Skip to main content

Full text of "The Constance saga"

See other formats 


r^^w? 


9&     •< 


'^m% 


- 

LIBRARY 

OF    tHE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

- 

Class 

\ 
i 

a. 


PALAESTRA. 


Untersuchungen  und  Texte  aus  der  deutschen 
und  englischen  Philologie. 

Herausgegeben 


Alois  Brandl  und  Erich  Schmidt 

XXIII. 

The  Constance  Saga.    By  A.  B.  Goiigh. 


BERLIN. 

MAYER    X,    MULL.ER. 

1902. 


PALAESTRA  XXIII. 


The  Constance  Saga. 


By 


A.  B.  Gough. 


BERLIN. 

MAYER  &   mOlLER. 

1902. 


Contents. 


P*ge 

Introduction 1 

Part  I.    Mutual  Relations  of  the  Literary  Tersions 2 

List  of  Literary  Versions 2 

Cognate  folk-tales 6 

The  primitive  tale 9 

Classification  of  versions 12 

Table  of  versions 13 

Part  II.    Relation  to  History 34 

1.  The  Northumbrian  Saga  of  ^lla  and  Eadwine  ...  34 

2.  Constantino  II,   king  of   Scots    and   Anlaf  Cnaran   of 

Northumbria 46 

3.  The  Thrytho  saga,  and  Offa  and  Cynethryth  of  Mercia  53 

(a)  The  Lives  of  the  two  Offas 53 

(b)  Cynethryth  Queen  of  Mercia  in  History  ...  59 

(c)  The  Thrytho  saga  in  Beoumlf 73 

Appendix.    La  filla  del  emperador  Contasti 83 


Corrigenda. 
P.  11,  1.  8,  for  Harpin  read  Herpin. 
P.  18,  n.  1,  strike  out  'which  ....  hands.' 


The  Constance  Saga. 

The  name 'Constance  saga'  has  been  given  by  Prof.  Suchier 
to  a  story  which  was  very  popular  throughout  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  tells  of  an  innocent  maiden,  who  is 
banished  l)y  an  unnatural  father,  or  flees  from  him,  and 
reaches  a  foreign  land,  where  she  marries  a  prince.  Dur- 
ing her  husband's  a])sence  she  is  falsely  accused  of  bear- 
ing a  monstrous  offspring,  and  is  banished  with  her  child, 
or  children.  Ultimately  she  rejoins  her  husband,  and  in 
many  versions  her  father  also.  The  saga  has  been  named 
after  the  heroines  of  on(>  of  the  most  important  versions, 
that  in  Nicholas  Trivet's  French  Chronicle.  For  two  reasons 
the  saga  is  of  pc^-culiar  interest.  P^irstly,  it  is  spread  all 
over  Europe,  not  only  in  mdrchen,  but  also  in  literary 
versions,  which  date  from  the  12  th  century  to  the  19  th. 
Secondly,  it  has  l)eon  repeatedly  associated  with  English 
historical  traditions.  The  following  pages  deal  with  these 
two  aspects  of  the  saga.  In  Part  I  the  sources  and  nuitual 
relations  of  the  extant  literary  versions  are  investigated, 
and  Part  II  deals  with  the  relations  of  the  saga  to  history. 
The  inquiry  was  suggested  by,  and  is  largely  based  upon, 
two  valuable  writings  of  Prof.  Suchier,  viz.  his  article  '  Uher 
die  Sage  von  Offa  und  ^ry'6o\  in  Paul  and  Braune's  Beitrdge, 
IV,  Halle  1877,  pp.  500—521,  and  his  edition  of  the  poetical 
works  of  Beaumanoir  (Soc.  des  anciens  textes  fran^-ais,  18). 
Paris  1884.  I,  pp.  XXIII— XCVI,  CLIX  f.  Other  writings 
will  be  noticed  in  the  following  list  of  versions,  and  as 
occasion  offers.  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Prof.  Sarrazin 
for  kind  advice  and  assistance^  during  the  preparation  of 
this  paper,  which  in  its  original  shape  formed  the  ^econd 

Palaestra  XXm.  1 


—     2     

part  of  my  inaii^iral  dissertation '),  but  as  it  has  since  been 
considerably  altered  I  cannot  claim  his  sanction  for  the 
views  expressed.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  Miss  M.  R.  Cox 
and  N.  W.  Thomas  Esq.  for  information  with  which  they 
have  kindly  supplied  me.  I  have  thought  it  best  to  leave 
the  difficult  question  of  the  alleged  mythological  significance 
of  the  saga  to  those  better  qualified  than  myself  to  form 
an  opinion.^) 


I.  The  Mutual  Relations  of  the  Literary  Versions. 

The  following  list  of  versions  is  derived  in  the  main 
from  that  given  by  Suchier  in  his  edition  of  Beaumanoir 
(I,  pp.  XXV -Lin,  CLIX),  where  fuller  bibliographical 
notices  of  them  will  be  Ibund.  In  the  account  of  their 
contents  which  follows  (p.  9  ff.),  my  information  is  chic^fly 
derived  from  the  texts  themselves,  or  in  three  cases  where 
they  were  not  accessible,  from  secondary  and  derived  vers- 
ions (HC,  01),  or  from  an  exhaustive  analysis  (Ml).  Co, 
which  I  have  unfortunately  not  examiiied,  and  Fa,  which 
is  not  important,  have  been  neglected. 
V  Ofl    Part  of  the  Vita  Offoe  Primi,  one  of  two  Latin 

prose  lives  by  an  unknow^i  monk  of  St  Albans,  probably 
of  the  12tli  cent.  Formerly  attributed  to  Matt.  Paris.  The 
part  containing  the  tale  is  printed,  with  an  analysis,  by 
Brock  and  Furnivall  for  the   Chaucer  Society  in  Originals 


1)  Some  further  remarks  on  the  Constance  sag-.i  will  be  found 
in  the  first  part:  A.  Gough,  On  the  Middle  iLnglish  Metrical  Bomauce 
of  Kmare,  inaug.  diss.,  Kiel  1900. 

2)  Cf.  the  books  referred  to  by  Suchier  in  Paul  &  Ri'aune  IV, 
p.  514,  and  in  Beaum.  I,  p.  LXXIX;  also  H.  C.  Coote  on  Catskin  in 
The  Folk-Lwe  Record  vol.  Ill,  1880,  Part  I,  p.  1  ff.;  Miss  M.  R.  Cox, 
Cinderella,  passim,  especially  the  part  on  Catsldn\  Grimm,  Deutsche 
Mythologies  ed.  4,  I.  pp.  363—358,  Deutsche  Sagev,  49,  304,  Kinder-  u. 
Jlaus-mcirchen,  nos.  11,49;  Kuhn  &  Schwartz,  Norddeutsvhe  Sag<n 
115,  161;  Schwartz,  De  fabula  Danaeica;  W.  Miiller,  Mi/tholngie  dcr 
deutschen  Heldensage,  1886,  p.  188;  Mogk  in  Paul's  Grmidriss,  ed. 
1898,  III,  pp.  269  ff.,  278  ff. 


—     3     — 

and  Analogues  of  some  of  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Talcs,  2ntl 
series  VII,  Part  I,  1872,  pp.  73—84. 

il/  It  Mai  und  Beaflor.  Gorman  poem  in  the  Austrian- 
Bavarian  dialect,  written  l)y  a  layman,  possibly  Pleier, 
1256—1263,  probably  1257—1259  (Wachter,  pp.  76,  57). 
The  author  professes  to  be  illiterate,  and  says  he  heard 
the  story  from  a  knight,  who  had  read  it  in  a  pros(^ 
chronicle  (col.  3.  11.  10—16).  Ed.  anon,  by  F.  Pfeiffer,  in 
Dichtungcn  des  deutschen  Mittelalters,  VII,  Leipzig  1848. 
Of.  0.  Wachter,  Untersuchungen  i'lher  .  .  M.  u.  B..  inaug. 
diss.,  Jena  1889. 

nC  La  hclle  Hclene  de  Constantinople.  French  rom- 
ance in  alexandrines,  of  the  13th  (Suchier,  Beaum.  I, 
p.  XXVIl)  or  early  14th  cent.  (G.  Paris,  lAti.  franc,  ou 
moycn  age,  ed.  2,  p.  254).  No  edition  or  analysis  appears 
to  have  l)een  printed.  Numerous  prose  versions  exist  as 
ehapbooks  in  French,  German,  Dutch  Ac.  There  is  a  prose 
French  version  by  Wauquelin.  For  analyses  see  Suchier, 
Beaum.  p.  XXVIII. 

Mk  La  Manehine.  N.  French  metrical  romance  by 
Phil,  de  R(^mi,  siro  do  Bejiumanoir.  c.  1270.  Ed.  Suchier, 
in  (Eurrcs  poetiques  de  . . .  Bcaumanoir  (Soc.  des  anc.  textes 
fr.,  18)  Paris  1884,  tome  I.  Incorporated  in  the  14th  cent. 
chanson  de  geste,  Herpin  de  Bourges  (Suchier,  Beaum.  I, 
pp.  IjXXXI— LXXXIV):  dramatised  in  Miracles  de  Nostre 
Dame  par  personnages.  No.  29,  between  1345  and  1380 
(Ed.  G.  Paris  &  Robert,  1880,  V.  Cf.  Suchier,  Beaum.  I, 
pp.  LXXXIV — XC);  told  in  prose  by  Wauquelin  (Suchier, 
Beaiim.  I,  pp.  267—366). 

En  A  story  in  the  riming  Universal  Chronicle  (Tfe?^&i<c/i) 
of  Jan  Enikel  or  Enenkel  11.  26,677—27,356,  written  at  Vienna 
1277 — 1300.  Ed.  Von  der  Hagen,  Gesammtahenteuef)\  II, 
pp.  593—613,  notes  III,  pp.  CLIV— CLXH;  also  Strauch 
in  Man.  Germ.  Hist.  vern.  ling.  Ill,  part  1,  pp.  520—532. 

Kll  A  prose  variant  of  En,  also  in  the  Austrian 
dialect,  entitled  ^Der  Kilnic  ze  Riuzen\  printed  in  the  intro- 
duction  to   Pfeiffer's   MB,   p.  IX.     According   to  Suchier 

1* 


\ 


\ 


{Beaum.  I,  p.  XXXVI)  tlio  source  of  En:  Strauch  rovci'sos 
the  relation.  As  it  agrees  closely  with  En  it  is  generally 
disregarded  in  the  following  inquiry. 

Jdl  La  Comtesse  d^Anjou.  French  dit  l)y  Jehan  Maillart, 
(formerly  called  mistakenly  Alarf,  and  Pesehotte.  Cf.  P.  & 
G.  Paris,  op.  infr.  cit.  p.  320)  1316.  Apparently  unprinted, 
l)ut  cf.  Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  XXXVII.  Fully  analysed  by 
P.  &  a.  Paris  in  Hist.  Utt  de  la  France  XXXI.  pp.  318— 
350.     Cf.  Romania  XIX,  p.  106  ff. 

Tr  The  Life  of  Constance  in  the  Anglo-French  Chron- 
icle written  1334 — 47  l)y  Nic.  Trivet,  an  EngUsh  Dominican. 
Ed.  E.  Brock  for  the  Chaucer  Soc,  in  Originals  and  Ana- 
logues of  some  of  Chaucer^s  Canterbury  Tales,  series  2, 
Xo.Vn,  Pt.  1,  1872,  pp.  Ill— 53.  Followed  by  Chaucer  in 
the  poem  afterwards  inserted  by  him  in  the  Cant.  Tales, 
as  The  Man  of  Lawes  Tale,  and  by  Gower,  c.  1390,  in 
Confessio  Amantis.,  II,  38.  Cf.  E.  Liicke,  Das  Leben  der 
Constanze  hei  Trivet,  Ooiver  u.  Chaucer,  inaug.  diss.,  Halle 
1891. 

Em  Emare.  Metrical  romance,  written  in  the  14^^^ 
cent,  in  the  N.  E.  Midland  of  England.  Ed.  Ritson.  Ancient 
Engleish  Metrical  Eomancees  [sic],  1802,  II,  pp.  204—247. 
notes  &c.  Ill,  pp.  222,  323—333,  440,  443.  Also  edited  by 
myself  in  Morsbach  and  Holthausen's  Old  and  Middle  English 
Texts,  vol.  2,  Heidelberg  1901.  Cf.  my  inaug.  diss.,  Emare, 
Kiel  1900. 

Ys  A  Latin  prose  tale,  entitled  'Ystoria  Regis  Fr an- 
chor um  et  filie  in  quam  adulterium  co7nmittere  voluiV,  in- 
serted in  an  0.  T.  conmientary  in  a  volume  probably  of 
Italian  origin  (it  contains  comments  on  Dante's  Div,  Corii.) 
written  1370.  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  mss.  latins  no.  8701.  pi). 
142—147. 

Fee  The  novella  of  Dionigia  in  Ser  Giovanni  Fioren- 
tino's  II  Pecorone,  giorn.  X,  no.  1,  1378. 

Da  Novella  della  figlia  del  Re  di  Bacia,  Italian  prose, 
14th  cent.  Cf.  D*Ancona,  Sa.  Uliva,  p.  236.    Ed.  Wesselofsky, 


—     5     — 

Pisa  [pub.  Xistri,  1866].    with  an  inquiry  into  the  history 
of  tlie  saga. 

IJu  Historia  del  Bey  de  Hungria.  Catahm  prose,  end 
of  14^^  cent.  Ed.  P.  de  Bofarull  y  Mascaro,  Coleccion  de  docu- 
mentos  Inr'ditos  del  archivo  general  de  la  corona  de  Aragon, 
Tomo  13,  Documenfos  literarios  en  antigua  Icngua  catalana, 
Barcelona  1857.  pp.  53  —  79. 

Ol  Historia  de  la  Regina  Oliva.  Italian  romance  in 
ottava  rima.  Two  main  versions  exist,  the  elder  c.  1400. 
For  MSS.  and  editions  see  Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  XLVI  f. 
P^olowed  by  an  early  Italian  drama,  Tm  Bappresentanone 
di  Santa  Uliva,  ed.  with  an  introduction  by  D'Ancona, 
Sacre  BappresentaHoni,  Firenze  1872,  tom.  Ill,  pp.  235-315. 
Tin's  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  Italian  dramas  on  the  subject, 
extending  into  the  19t^i  century  (Stichier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  XCVl ). 

Jill  Vie  Konigstochter  von  Franhreich.  German  metrical 
romance,  wi^itt£iL-1400  (not  1401)  by  Hans  von  Biihel  or 
'der  Bliheh'r,  an  il1iter^.t£.  and  probably  knightly,  native 
of  Alsace,  Imt  resident  near  Bonn.  The  last  chapter  is  a 
late  addition.  Ed.  with  introduction  by  Merzdorf,  Olden- 
burg 1867.  Cf.  Strobl  in  Pfi^iffer* s  Germania  XII,  pp.  109— 
114,  F.  SeeKg  in  Strassh.  Studien  III,  p.  295. 

n  Fragmentary  story  in  the  Vitorial,  a  Spanish  prose 
chronicle  by  Gutiei're  Diez  de  Games,  c.  1440.  Ed.  L.  Lemcke. 
]\larburg  1865,  p.  20.  French  trl.  by  De  Circourt  and  Do 
Puymaigre,  LeVictorial,  chronique . . .  par  G.D.de  Oamez  &c., 
Paris  1867,  livre  II,  chap.  26,  p.  258  ff. 

Fa  De  origine  inter  Gallos  et  Britannos  belli  historia. 
Latin  prose  by  Bartol.  Fazio,  before  1457.  Compiled  from 
Da,  01,  f*  (see  below)  &c.  Ed.  Canuisat,  Bihl,  Ciaconii, 
Paris  1731.  col.  884.    (Not  seen.) 

VM  A  short  prose  legend,  no.  XI  in  the  Venetian 
collection  called  Miraciili  de  la  glonosa  verzene  Maria, 
Vicenza  1475.  For  Greek  and  Russian  versions  see  Suchier, 
Beaum.  I,  p.  L  f.  Dramatised  in  the  15th  cent.,  as  La 
Bappresentazionc  di  Stella,  ed.  D'Ancona,  Sacre  Bappr,, 
P'irenze  1872.  tom.  Ill,  p.  319  ff. 


—     6     — 

Pen  La  Pcnta  manomozza.  Novella  in  the  Neapolitan 
(liiiloct,  written  before  1637  by  Gianib.  Basile  in  11  Pent- 
amcronc,  giorn.  3,  nov.  2  (=  no.  22). 

Co  Istoria  de  la  filla  del  emperador  Co7itasti,  qui  fo 
lo  primer  emperador  de  Roma,  la  qiial  lo  pare  pe)'  mala 
iniqaitat,  con  no  U  volch  consefntir  que  jagues  ah  ella  la 
mana  ociura  a  dos  scudes,  los  quals  7io  la  volguei^en  odure 
et  materen  la  en  una  nau  e  puys  fou  midler  delBcy  Desxmnya. 
Catalan  prose  tale  in  a  unique  JVIS.  from  the  Bibl.  Colonib. 
in  Seville,  now  in  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  fonds  c^spag-nol,  no.  475. 
(Not  seen.)  Cf.  [H.  Harrisse]  Grandeur  et  decadence  de  la 
Colomhine,  ed.  2,  Paris  1885.    Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  CLIX  f. 


While  endeavouring  to  determine  the  ])rimitive  form 
of  the  saga,  we  must  not  neglect  the  numerous  folk-tales, 
scattered  over  nearly  the  whole  of  Europe,  which  contain 
the  same  story  in  varying  forms.  Most  of  these  are 
probably  unaffected  by  the  literary  versions,  (som(3  im- 
portant exceptions  will  be  noted  below,  p.  9.  n.  1.)  and 
reach  back  to  a  remote  antiquity.  I  have  neither  the 
qualifications  nor  the  space  to  discuss  these  folk-tales  fully, 
and  nuist  content  myself  with  a  few  ])rief  remarks,  based 
upon  Suchier's  account  of  them  (Beaumanoir,  I,  pp.  LVIII- 
LXXII).  I  follow  his  notation.  The  42  tales,  collected  in 
part  by  K.  Kohler,  occur  in  the  following  languages. 


a  Gaelic,  W.  Highlands. 

b  German,  Harz. 

c        „        Hesse. 

d 

e        „        Mecklenburg. 

f         „        Silesia. 

g        „         Baden. 

h         „         Tyrol. 

i  French,  Normandy. 

j        „       Brittany. 


k  French,  Brittany 

1        1^  M 


m 

?5 

11 

n 

Gascon, 

Gers. 

0 

Catalan 

P 

Italian^ 

Tyrol. 

q 

V 

Tuscany, 

Pistoja 

r 

11 

11 

n 

s 

11 

11 

?7 

t 

11 

w 

„ 

u  Italian,  Tuscany,  Pisa. 

V        „  „        Arezzo. 

w       „  „        Spoleto. 

X        „        Sicity. 

y  Rhmto-Romanic^  Grisons. 

z  Roumayiian,  Transylvania. 

a  Lithuanian. 

^  Russian,  Grodno. 

7         „        Orel. 

d 


f  Russian,  Eiazan. 
T)  Serb,  Bosnia. 

t  Greek,  Zante. 
y,  Finnish, 

fi  Tatar. 

V      „        Kirghiz. 

I       „        Tol)olsk. 

0  Arabic.    (1001  Nights^).) 

jt  Swaheli,  Zanzibar. 


Omitting  certain  imperfect  forms,  f,  u,  v,  t,v,  jr,  Suchier 
(p.  LXVIII  f.)  classifies  the  folk-tales  as  follows. 

A*  The  father  wishes  to  marry  the  daughter,  c,  z. 

A 2  He  tries  to  prevent  her  from  praying,  e,  s,  from 
giving  ahns  |,  (o). 

A^  He  sells  her  to  the  devil,  d,  g,  m,  o,  y. 

A^  The  step-mother  accuses  her  to  the  father  (combin- 
ation with  B*),  a,  n,  t. 

B*    The  step-mother  persecutes  her,  1,  w,  i>. 

B-  The  mother  (who  keeps  an  inn-),  except  in  i,  ?;)  per- 
secutes her,  b,  h,  i,  p,  q,  r,  x,  rj  (r  is  combined 
with  A»). 

C*   The  brother  wishes  to  marry  the  sister,  Pen. 

C-  The  sister-in-law^')  accuses  her  to  the  brother,  a,  A,  //,, 
to  the  husband,  ^. 

C  •'  The  sister-in-law  commits  three  crimes,  to  inculpate 
the  heroine,  j,  k,  7,  6,  e,  §,  x. 

B*  und  C\  according  to  Suchier,  are  variants  of  the 
primitive  type  A',  and  these  three  are  the  the  starting- 
points  of  the  others.  The  Constance  saga  follows  A', 
which  was  therefore  in  existence  in  the  12*^  century  (Of  1), 


*)  A  late  interpolation. 

2)  So  the  step-mother  in  w  (B^). 

^)  The  step-mother  in  «,  "by  a  comhination  with  R^ 


—     8     — 

but  we  find  amons:  the  literary  versions  two  divergent 
types,  VM  which  agrees  with  B*,  and  Pcm,  which  in  the 
sole  known  representative  of  C.  In  B  the  introduction 
of  the  wicked  step-mother  is  due  to  the  inthience  of  a  tale 
of  the  Sneewitfchen  type,  and  similarly  C^  and  C''  have 
b(?en  affected  by  the  Slavonic  mdrchen  of  The  Sisters-in-law. 

The  local  distrilmtion  of  the  types  supports  Suchier's 
view.  In  seeking  for  the  original  locality  of  A  we  may 
disregard  the  composite  group  A-*.  There  remain  four 
Oerman  versions,  c,  d,  e,  g,  and  two,  y,  z,  from  the  borders 
of  German  districts;  two,  o,  s,  from  S.  Europe,  one,  m, 
from  Brittany,  and  an  Oriental  sub-group  ^,  o.  The  versions 
of  the  most  primitive  type  A*,  c  and  z,  are  located  in  the 
vicinity  of  alleged  Saxon  populations*)  (Zwehren  near  Cassel, 
andBroos,comitatHunyad, Transylvania).  In  several  respects 
these  two  versions  agree  closely  with  the  Constance  saga, 
which  is  undoubtedly  of  Anglian  origin.  It  may  therefore 
l)e  considered  certain  that  A,  the  primitive  form  of  the 
story,  belongs  to  the  Teutonic  race,  and  probably  to  the 
X.  Germans. 

Of  the  eleven  forms  of  B,  five,  p,  q,  r,  w,  x,  are 
Italian,  one,  h,  is  on  the  Italian  ])order,  two,  /;,  i?",  are 
not  remote)  from  Italy,  two,  i,  1,  are  N.  French,  and  one, 
b,  is  N.  German.  B  agrees  with  the  X.  Italian  V]\I,  and 
may  without  hesitation  be  assigned  to  Italy.   . 

C  is  confined  within  definite  limits.  C'^  may  be  traced 
to  the  E.  shores  of  the  Baltic  (a,  /9,  A).  One  version,  fi, 
is  Tatar.  C,  a  later  development  2),  is  Russian  (7,  d,  e,  f), 
and  Finnish  (x). 


^)  The  same  may  he  said  of  e,  and  of  a  variant  of  ]^,  viz.  b. 
l*ossibly  the  purity  with  which  the  tradition  has  been  maintained 
in  z  is  due  to  the  isolation  of  the  Transylvanian  Germans,  who, 
it  siiould  be  added,  are  perliaps  more  Low-Frankisli  than  Saxon. 

'^)  Two  versions  of  this  type,  j,  k,  have  strayed  into  Brittany, 
whither,  as  Suchior  remarks  (p.  LXIX)  tliey  may  have  been  brought 
by  sailors  or  soldiers.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  majority  of  the 
tales  which  have  strayed  far  from  their  centres  are  found  on  or 
near  the  coast,  viz.  a,  i,  j,  k,  1,  m,  o,  «,  7t. 


—     9     — 

It  is  quite  what  might  be  expected  that  the  German  A 
is  the  source  of  the  Italian  B  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the 
Baltic  and  Russian  C  on  the  other.  The  prinutive  Teutonic 
folk-tale  A  ma}^  be  partially  reconstructed  by  a  comparison 
of  the  variants*). 

A. 

1.  A  father  desires  to   marry  Ids  dau^iihter  (A)  c,  z. 

2.  She  refuses,  and  her  hands  are  cut  off  as  a  punish- 

ment A,  B,  C. 

3.  8he  flees  to  a  forest  A,  B,  C. 

4.  A  king  finds  her  in  a  hollow  tree  or  cave  (A)  m, 

0,  (g,  y);  (B)  p,  r?,  (1);  (C)  k,  d,  e,  (j);  also  jr. 

5.  The  king  marries  her  A,  B,  C. 

6.  He  goes  away  to  the  wars  A,  B,  C. 


*)  raution  is  necessary  here,  for  some  of  the  miirchcn  have 
certainly  been  affected  by  literary  versions.  Of  the  latter,  perhaps 
only  HC,  Mk,  VM  and  01  ever  became  widely  poi)ular.  In  the 
Tuscan  mdrchen  (q— w)  are  several  close  parallels  to  the  popular 
Italian  dramas  based  on  VM  and  Ol.  Thus  with  01  may  be 
compared  the  two  sea  vo^-ages  in  r,  the  exposure  on  the  second 
occasion  in  a  chest  in  r,  t,  u,  the  incestuous  demand  in  r,  v,  the 
sending  to  the  father  of  the  heroine's  hands  in  a  plate,  and  her 
name  Oliua  in  v;  and  again  with  Stella  (form  of  VM)  the  marriage 
with  the  son  of  the  King  of  France  in  r,  the  double  crime  of  tlie 
step-mother  in  w,  and  her  accusation  of  the  heroine  before  the 
father  in  t  (it  also  occurs  in  a  and  n). 

The  burning  or  burying  of  wax  dolls  as  substitutes  in  the 
Tuscan  r,  s,  t,  may  be  compared  with  similar  incidenls  in  the 
cliapbooks  derived  from  HC  and  Mk.  In  the  lireton  1  tiie  burying 
of  a  log  recals  the  burning  of  a  log  in  the  French  Mk.  The  feed- 
ing by  animals  (e,)  j,  k,  1,  m,  o,  chiefly  found  in  French  marchen, 
and  the  taking  of  an  animal's  heart  and  eyes  to  the  mother-in-law 
as  proof  of  the  heroine's  death,  c,  f,  h,  i,  p,  q,  r,  w,  ,w,  are  probably 
borrowed  from  other  folk-tales  (Suchier,  p.  I^XXI  f.).  The  latter 
incident  belongs  mainly  to  B.  The  episode  of  the  garden  where 
the  heroine  plucks  fruit  with  her  mouth  is  confined  almost  en- 
tirely to  the  Russian  and  German  versions,  and  is,  as  Suchier  ob- 
.serves  (p.  LXVI  f.),  an  evident  addition. 


-—     10     — 

7.  During  his  absence  the  heroine  bears  a  son^)  (A) 

c,  z,  0,  d,  (n);  (B)  b,  x;  (C)  a,  /9,  A,  /i,  y,  d,  e,  ?, 
x;  also  v^  Jt. 

8.  The  wicked  mother-in-law  A,  B,  forges  two  letters, 

the  first  to  the  king,  calumniating  his  wife,  the 
second  as  if  from  the  king,  ordering  her  punish- 
ment A,  B,  C. 

9.  She  and  her  child  are  banished  A,  B,  C. 

10.  They  cross  the  water. ^)  (?) 

11.  The   heroine    gains  new  hands  during  her  second 

exile  A,  B,  C. 

12.  The  miracle  is  caused  by  her  dipping  hei'  arms  in 

a  fountain  A,  B,  G. 

13.  Her  new  hands  are  of  gold^)  or  silver  (A)  c;   (B) 

w,  t^,  h. 

14.  She  meets  her  husband  A,  B,  C. 

15.  The  king's  reunion  with  his  family  is  effected  through 

his  noticing  the  behaviour  of  his  child  (children). 

16.  He    does  not  at  lirst  recognize  his  wife,   because 

she  has  hands  (A)  c,  5?,  s,  g;  (B)  1,  p;  (C)  j^,  j. 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  literary  versions  of  the  Con- 
stance saga,  and  attempt  to  separate  th(^  primitive  elements 
of  the  story  from  later  acci'etions  and  altei'ations,  we  shall 


^)  In  B  there  are  two  children.  Where  there  are  two  in  A 
and  0,  the  mdrchen  appear  to  have  heen  affected  hy  the  neighbour- 
hood of  B  (s,  g,  j,  k,  m,  y)  or  to  be  mixed  with  other  tales  (e,  o). 

2)  So  h,  t]  {?),  X,  p\  on.  the  forlner  flight  in  c.  In  h,  y,  she  takes 
refuge  during  her  second  exile  in  a  house  in  the  middle  of  a  lake, 
and  in  x  her  second  exposure  is  in  an  iron  cask  (much  as  in  MB, 
En,  01,  Pen).  In  the  Tuscan  r,  t,  u,  the  voyage  in  a  chest  may 
be  borrowed  from  01.  But  it  is  among  races  so  remote  and  un- 
touched by  literary  influences  as  the  Kirghiz  (*'),  Carelians  (x) 
and  Bosnians  (<?),  that  an  incident,  elsewhere  lost,  may  easily  sur- 
vive. A  mythical  significance  has  been  ascribed  by  W.  Miiller 
(in  Germania  1,435  ff.)  to  the  voyage  and  confinement  in  a  box. 
Among  inland  populations  a  voyage  would  naturally  be  altered  to 
a  land  journey. 

8)  Her  son  (sons)  receives  golden  ii.inds  (P>)  ^  />;  ((')  ;',  *h  f,  s. 


—   11   — 

find  that  the  original  type,  which  we  may  call  a*,  corre- 
sponds  very    closely   with   this   primitive  form  A  of  the 
mdrchen.    The  following  incidents  in  A  are  however  absent 
from  a*  or  nearly  so. 
,4.   Scarcely  a  trace. 

12.  Only  in  Mk,   which  apparently  borrows  it  from  a 

marchen.    Of.  Suchier,  p.  LXVII. 

13.  Only  in  Harpin  de  Bourges  (a  form  of  Mk).    It  is 

very  doubtful  whether  13  belongs  to  the  original 
A,  although  a  mythical  significance  has  been 
attributed  to  it  by  Wesselofsky  (Re  di  Dacia). 
It  is  chietly  found  among  the  Slavs  (7,  ^,  e,  f,  ?/,  d), 

15.  A  somewhat  similar  incident  is  found  in  the  liter- 

ary group  ^*  (below,  nos.  64—68)  where  it  seems 
to  be  borrowed  from  another  saga. 

16.  Only  in  Hu  and  01,  which  probably  borrow  it  from 

mdrchen. 

The  remaining  incidents  probably  all  belong  to  o*.  As 
will  be  seen  later  (p.  16)  a*  falls  into  two  groups,  /?*  and  7*. 
Some  of  the  incidents  are  confined  to  one  or  other  of  these 
two  groups.  Thus  the  hands  are  cut  off  as  a  punishment 
(2),  and  the  lady  is  found  by  a  king  hunting  in  a  forest 
(3),  only  iui^*.')  It  is  only  in  7*  that  the  heroine  has  only 
one  son  (7),  that  the  traitress  is  the  mother-in-law  (8),  that 
there  are  two  forged  letters  (8),  and  that  the  lady  and  her 
infant  cross  the  sea  (10).  In  spite  of  this,  the  presence  of 
these  incidents  in  numerous  mdrchen  versions  makes  it 
highly  probable  that  they  belonged  to  the  primitive  saga  a*, 
and  were  omitted  or  changed  in  ^  and  7*  respectively. 

The  mutilation  of  the  heroine  presents  some  difficulties. 
In  7*  she  voluntarily  cuts  off  her  own  hands  before  her  first 
fiight.  In  1^*  (Of  1,  VM,  HC)  the  nmtilation  is  a  punishment, 
but  in  two  cases  (Of  1,  HC)  out  of  three,  it  occurs  before 
the   second   exile.    In   both  these  versions  however  there 


»)  (2)  in  Of  1,  VM,  HC,  (3)  in  Of  1,  HC.    She  is  found  in  a  forest 
hy  her  future  husband  in  VM,  who  in  the  variant  Stella  is  hunting. 


—     12     — 

are  traces  of  an  original  mutilation  ])efore  the  first  exile. 
In  Ofl  the  father  orders  his  daughter  to  he  slain  and 
thro^vn  to  the  beasts,  hut  his  servants  let  her  go  'due 
fnicidatioiie  et  mcmhrorum  mutilatione\  She  is  also  spared 
on  the  second  occasion,  but  her  childrc^n  are  cut  to  piec(^s. 
In  HC  she  says  she  will  rather  cut  off  her  hnibs  than  obey 
her  father,  and  seizes  a  knife  to  kill  herself.  I  believe 
that  VM,  Avhich  follows  2,  has  pri^servcd  the  original  trad- 
ition, agreeing  herein  with  nearly  all  the  mdrchen.  (Cf. 
Suchier,  Beaum.  pp.  LYI,  LXX.)  The  miracle  by  which 
the  heroine  gains  new  hands  (11)  is  placed  in  the  second 
exile  in  Of  1,  HC,  Hu,  VM,  as  in  the  mdrchen^  and  doubtless 
in  accordance  with  the  primitive  tale;  but  in  Da,  01,  Vi, 
it  is  before  the  marriage,  and  in  ]\lk,  P(>n  at  the  end. 

The  primitive  form  of  the  Constance  saga  appears  to 
have  contained  the  following  incidents. 


1,  2,  3,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  14. 

17.  The  heroine  takes  treasure  or  rich  robes  with  her  on 

her  first  fUght  Ofl,  MB,  HC,  En,  Ml,  Tr,  Em,  Vi. 

18.  She  marries  a  king  in  England  Ofl,  HC,  Mk,  Tr, 

Pec,  Bu,  Vi. 

19.  He  fights  the  Scots ^  Ofl,  Tr,  Bu  (HC,  Pec). 

20.  A  stranger  protects  the    mother   and   her  offspring 

(passim). 

')  In  HC  (as  in  other  versions,  no.  74)  tlio  war  on  tliis  occas- 
ion is  with  the  Saracens.  In  Wanqiielin's  prose  version  of  HC 
llioro  is  a  war  on  a  subsequent  occasion  with  a  Scottisli  king,  but 
in  the  other  prose  versions  of  HC,  this  king  is  besieged  in  Nar- 
bonne.  As  neither  the  text  of  the  poem,  nor,  so  far  as  1  know, 
any  analysis  of  it,  has  been  published,  I  cannot  say  whether  HC 
contains  tlie  Scottish  war  or  not.  In  Mk  the  husband  is  king  of 
Scotland,  i.  e.  Xorthumbria,  for  York  is  in  his  dominions.  Ireland 
is  also  in  liis  i)ossession.  In  Bii  the  Irish  combine  with  the  Scots 
to  invade  lOngland.  In  Tec  an  island  rebels  against  (ho  king  of 
England. 


Oi* 


rORMS  OF  THE 
COhSTANCE  SAGA 


/9* 

£ra^ju  ^edon  'M/n/th  ^^a^.. 


VM 

Tentcey, 
f4y5 


^  0^//^/^A  //S4-I205. 


rna/ 


/SI2.  ^f554'4y.       y(^/y^,t/L%'^"''^^' 


1]* 


Ujott  lZ5d, 


Vnif,  Sf^m  /3fX      c  ^/39J^  ^ 


,  Em 

mftnm/  rcmamn 


fiodfical  wma^iU, 


Pen 
■tefort  fto^J, 


C 

cArcntric, 
Sf-fort  /259 


Da  'c/4^6. 


■c  /2yd. 


YS  PEC 

Oyo,         'I5y?. 


noo. 


MB 

!25y-9. 


c.l2yy-l500. 


—     14     — 

21.  The  husband  on  his  return  discovers  the  treachery, 

and  burns  the  traitor   Ml,  Bu,  VM,  01,  Pen  (Em, 
Ys,  Hu,  sentence  connnuted). 

22.  The   heroine  is  reconciled  to  her   repentant  father. 

(Exc.  Ofl,  Ml,  Ys,  Hu.) 

So  much  may  be  attributed  to  the  original  of  the 
literary  versions,  with  the  possible  exception  of  19. 

a*  is  a  variant  of  the  Teutonic  A,  localised  in  England. 
If,  as  is  argued  below  (Part  II),  its  two  variants  ^*  and  y* 
have  assumed  the  form  of  sagas  of  Offa  of  Mercia,  and 
^lla  of  Northumbria  respectively,  it  is  clear  that  a*  was 
current  among  the  Angles  at  a  very  early  date.  The  con- 
nection with  the  Scots  (19)  may  have  arisen  independently 
in  /9*  and  7*.  or  on  the  other  hand  the  saga  of  .^Ua  (7*), 
wliicli  points  back  to  that  very  early  period  in  the  history 
of  the  Angles,  the  end  of  the  Q^^  century,  when  they  first 
came  in  contact  with  the  Scottish  power,  may  have  been 
ahT-ady  embodied  in  a*.    (See  Part  11.) 

Wo  may  now  proceed  to  the  classification  of  the 
literary  versions,  all  of  which  are  variants  of  a*.  In  the 
follawiiig  pages  the  Greek  letters ')  are  usedi,  to  repi\>sent^ 
tirstlx-_the  groups  of  existing  versions,  and  secondly  the 
hypothetical  sources  of  these  groups.  The  results  of  the 
(MiquTryTembod^  be  regarded 

as  approximate  rather  than  definitive.  Some  of  the  details 
doubtless  require  modification,  but  the  main  outUnes  of  the 
scheme  appear  to  be  established. 

\  Suchier  {Beaumanoir  I,  pp.  XXIV,  XXV)  has  shown 
that  there  are  two  main  types.  "Les  versions  de  ce  conte 
se  divisent  en  deux  types  que  j'appelle  celui  de  rermite  et 
celui  du  senateur.  Dans  celles  du  premier  type  I'li^ro'ine 
a  deux  fils;   deux  fois  elle  est  conduite  dans  la  foret;   la 

*)  The  asterisks  distinguish  these  lettei's  from  those  on  p.  7  IT., 
and  indicate  the  liypothetical  existence  of  the  versions  they  re- 
present. They  should  have  been  added  in  my  inausr.  diss.,  pp.  21, 
22,  and  in  my  edition  of  Emare,  p.  VIII. 


secondo  fois  olle  est  recueillie  par  uii  eriuito,  et  c'est  chez 
lui  qu'a  la  fin  elle  est  retrouvee  par  son  mari.  Dans  celles 
dp  Taiitre  type  elle  n'a  qu'un  fils:  deux  fois  elle  est  al)an- 
donnee  a  la  mer;  la  seconde  fois  elle  parvient  a  Rome, 
oil  elle  trouve  un  refuge  chez  un  senateur,  chez  lequel  elle 
est  retrouvee  par  son  mari. 

"Ces  deux  traditions,  qui  primitivement  n'en  font  qu  une, 
ont  existe  a  cote  Fune  de  Fautre  dans  I'Angleterre  septen- 
trionale  avant  la  fin  du  douzi^me  si6cle.  Plus  tard  on 
trouve  des  versions  mixtes  ou  elles  se  sont  plus  ou  moins 
confondues.  On  pent  cependant  distinguer  les  deux  types 
encore  apr6s  des  si^cles/' 

Further,  on  pp.  LIV,  LV,  '"11  n'y  a  que  deux  represent- 
ants  purs  du  type  de  rermite:  Offa  [Of  1]  et  le  Miracolo 
[VM].  Co  type  prevaut  aussi  dans  Hc'lene  [H(J]  (le  roi  la 
trouve  t\  la  chasse;  elle  a  deux  fils  eleves  chez  un  ermite), 
oil  Ton  constate  pourtant  une  fusion  avec  des  traits  qui 
apparti(Minent  au  type  du  senat(nir.  Le  caractere  mixte 
est  encore  plus  marque  dans  Tliistoire  iVOliva  [01]  (pii  est 
exposee  deux  fois  dans  hi  foret  et  d(Uix  fois  sur  la  mer. 
L'  Ystoria  regis  Franchorum  [Ys]  et  le  coiite  de  Basile  [Pen] 
sont  aussi  des  versions  mixtes:  riieroine  de  celle-la  s'en- 
fuit  la  premiere  fois  par  terre,  la  seconde  fois  par  mer, 
et  Penta  le  fait  vice  veisa.  Cela  nous  fait  supposer  que 
dans  la  fin  Y  Ystoria  suit  le  type  du  senateur  et  Penta  le 
type  de  rermite.  Cette  supposition  est  confirme  par  plu- 
sieurs  traits  que  j'ai  deja  signales.  Dans  V  Ystoria  ce  sont 
les  deux  fils  dont  elle  accouche,  Tahsence  du  mari  motivee 
par  une  fete  a  la  cour  de  son  heau-pere  et  le  manque  du 
premier  changement  de  lettres  qui  rattachent  cette  version 
au  type  de  rermite.  Dans  Pe^ita  c'est,  outre  la  fin,  le  role 
de  Nuccia  qui  rappelle  ce  meme  type;  mais  le  commence- 
ment, Texposition  par  mer  et  Taccouchement  d'un  seul 
enfant  sont  de  Tautre." 

The  above  remarks  provide  a  basis  for  classification. ') 


1)  Since   writing   this   paper   I  have  read  Coimt  T.  de  Puy 


—     IG     — 

Two  versions,  Fa  and  (Jo,  are  omitted  from  tlie  followin^^ 
scheme.  Of  Co  I  know  nothing  more  than  the  title.  Fa 
is  a  15tii  century  compilation  from  several  versions  (Suchier, 
Beaum.  I,  p.  Xl.VITI  f.). 

Suchier  recognizes  01,  Pen,  HC  and  Ys  as  mixed.  As 
I  shall  attempt  to  show,  Ys  belongs  to  a  group  f  *,  con- 
sisting of  Ys,  Pec,  and  Bu,  and  derived  from  a  form  of 
HC.  We  have  therefore  two  variants  of  the  primitive 
type  a*,  viz.  /?*  followed  by  Of  1  and  VM,  and  7*  followed 
])y  MB,  Mk,  En,  Ml,  Tr,  Da,  Em,  Hu,  Vi;  while  HC,  Ys, 
Pec,  Bu,  01  and  Pen  form  a  mixed  group. 

^* 
Of  1,  VM,  (HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu,  01,  Pen). 

23.  Tlie  King   is    hunting  when  he  finds  tlie  lady  Ofl, 

VM,  HC,  01. 

24.  He  entrusts  her  to  his  servants  Ofl,  VM. 

25.  Two  children  are  born  Of  1,  V]\l,  HC,  Ys,  Pec. 

26.  The  traitor  is  not  the  mother-in-law')  (8)  Ofl  (father). 

VM  (step-mother),  Pen. 

27.  The  first  forged  letter  is  omitted  Of  l,VM,Ys, +  Hu. 

28.  The  second  journey  is  by  land    Ofl,  V]\l,  Pen;    by 

land  and  sea  HC  (Pec,  Bu). 

29.  Mutilation    is    ordered    at    the    second   banishment 

Ofl,  HC. 

30.  The  protector  (20)  is  a  hermit  Ofl,  VM,  HC. 


maigre's  article,  La  Fille  aux  mains  coupees,  in  Revue  de  VHisioire 
dc8  Religions,  Paris,  1884,  X,  pj).  193—209.  He  only  mentions  some 
of  the  versions,  which  he  divides  into  three  classes,  viz.  I,  the 
story  in  its  complete  form  (=  e*  with  tV*)  Vi,  Da,  Hu,  Ol,  Pen; 
IT,  omitting  the  cutting  off  of  the  heroine's  hands  (=  J*)  HC,  Ml,  Fa; 
III,  omitting  the  incestuous  desire,  VM.  As  far  as  it  goes,  this 
classification  is  quite  consistent  with  my  own.  An  account  of 
several  marchen  and  variants  of  01  and  VM  will  be  found  in  the 
paper.  De  Puymaigre  (p.  207  f.)  rejects  Wesselofsky's  tlieory  of  a 
nature  myth. 

1)  In  Ml  (;■*)  the  husband's  aunt. 


—     17     — 

The  relation  of  this  tji^e  to  histoiy,  and  to  the  saga 
of  Offa  and  Tlnytho  is  discussed  below. 

Of  1  may  be  one  of  the  sources  of  the  mixed  version 
HO,  as  there  appears  to  be  nothing  characteristic  of  ^*  in 
the  latter  which  is  not  also  found  in  Of  1. 

Of  1,  if  a  source  of  YM,  is  not  the  sole  source,  as  the 
nmtilation  (2)  and  the  burning  of  the  traitor  (21)  are  absent 
from  the  former. 

MB,  Mk,  En,  Ml,  Tr,  Da,  Em,  Hu.  Vi,  (HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu, 

01,  Pen). 

31.  The  mutilation  is  voluntary')    Mk,  En,  Da,  Hu,  W, 

(HC),  01,  Pen. 

32.  The  first  flight  is  by  sea-),  and  not  in  a  forest  MI5. 

Mk,  En,  Tr,  Em,  Hu,  Yi,  Bu,  Pen;    by    land    and 
sea  HC,  Pec,  01. 

33.  The  vessel  drifts  without  oars  i^c.  Tr,  Em,  Hu,  II C, 

Bu,  ]\IB,  Mk.  En,  01,  Pen. 

34.  The  heroine  travels  with  a  companion  MB,  Ml,  Da, 

HC,  01. 

35.  She    lives    awhile    in  the  country  where  she  lands, 

before  the  king  finds  her  Ml,  Tr,  Da,  Em,  HC,  Ys, 
Pec,  Bu. 

36.  She  becomes  a  servant  Ml,  Tr,  Da,  Em,  Y^s,  Bu,  01, 

Pen. 

37.  She  conceals  her  origin  ]\IB,   Mk,  En,  Ml,  Tr,  Da, 

Em,  Hu,  HC,  Ys,  Bu. 
3S.  The  king's  mother  retires  in  anger  to  her  castle  Em, 

Hu,  HC,  Pec,  MB,  Mk,  En. 
30.  The   first   forged    letter   announces    the    birth   of  a 

monster  MB,  Mk,  En,  Ml,  Tr,  Da,  Em,  Yi,  Bu,  01, 

Pen;  two  monsters  HC,  Pec. 


^)  In  the  other  forms  of  y*  (viz.  J"*),  it  is  absent  (no.  46). 
..  2)  By  land  in  Ml,   Da,   which   are   localised   respectively   in 
central  France,  and  in  Germany  and  Italy. 

Palaestra  XXUI.  '-^ 


—     18     — 

40.  One   or   more    substitutes    are  burnt  instead  of  tlie 

mother  and  offspring  Mk,  Da,  HC,  Bu,  01. 

41.  The  king  besieges  his  mother  Ml,  Vi,  Bu,  01. 

There  are  two  types  of  y*.  One,  (5*,  is  followed  by  Ml, 
Tr,  Em,  (HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu),  the  other,  €*,  is  followed  by  Da, 
Hu,  Vi.  A  mixed  group,  which  in  the  main  follows  d*,  is 
formed  by  MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  Pen.  The  most  important 
distinguishing  features  of  6*  are  42,  45,  46,  57,  59,  61,  66,  74. 

(3*  is  an  Anglo-Frencli  version,  probably  of  the  12th 
century  (p.  23),  of  an  EngHsh  saga  of  ^]lla  and  Eadwine. 
This  saga  must  have  arisen  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  say 
before  800  A.  D.  As  e*  cannot  be  traced  back  further  than 
the  middle  of  the  ISth  century,  and  yet,  as  the  above  table 
sliows,  resembles  (5*  in  some  important  particulars.  \\:  may 
be  fairly  assumed  that  7*,  their  common  original,  was  a  form 
of  the  .^Ua  sasra. 

(5* 

Ml,  Tr,  Em,  (HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu,)  (MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  Pen). 
^^42.  The  father  is  an  Emperor  Em,  MB,  of  Constantinople 

Tr,  HC. 
v'43.  The  name  Constantine  occurs,  as  that  of  the  heroine's 

father')  Tr,  son  En-),  fathers  successor  HC. 

44.  Her  father  entrusts  her  to  a  governess  Ml,  Em,  HC, 

MB,  Mk. 

45.  The  Pope  sanctions  the  incestuous  marriage  (Tr"*), 

Em,  HC,  Mk,  En,  01. 

46.  There  is  no  mutilation,  except  in  the  mixed  versions 

HC,  Mk,  (MB,  En'*),  01,  Pen. 

47.  The  governess  advises  flight  Ml,  HC,  MB,  Mk. 

48.  The  heroine  wears  a  rich  (magic)  robe  Em,  HC,  MB, 

En,    so  that  people  are  dazzled  at  her  splendour 
Em,  MB,  Bu. 

*)  So  in  Co,   wWeh-^perttaps  a^ees-  wilh^*,   as   the   heroitte 
loses  her  hcands-.       (>av<^.- '^  - -.v 

2)  In  the  prose  version  KR  alone. 

3)  Marriage  with  the  Sultan,  witli  a  view  to  liis  conversion. 

4)  She  cuts  off  her  hair, 


--     19     — 

49.  She  lands  on  the  coast  of  Northumbria  Tr,  HC,  Mk. 
^0.  She  is  found  by  the  king's  seneschal  Ml,  Tr,  Em,  Mk. 

51.  She  works  with  her  needle  Ml,  Em,  Ys,  Bu,  01,  Pen. 

(Cf.  46.) 

52.  The  seneschal  entertains  the  king  (Ml,)  Em,  Bu. 

53.  At  first  the  heroine  declines  the  king's  offer  Ys,  Pec, 

Bu,  MB,  Mk,  En. 
%4.  The  heroine  is  accused   of  witchcraft  Tr,  Em,  Bu, 

MB,  En. 
•^5.  She  asks  the  servants  who  have  received  the  second 

forged   letter   why   they   weep  Tr,  Em,  Bu,  MB, 

Mk,  En. 
fee.  She  excuses  her  husband  Tr,  Em,  Bu,  MB,  Mk,  (En). 
t^7.  The    second   journey  is  in  two  stages  Ml,  Tr,  HC, 

Pec,  Bu,  01. 
58.  She    wanders    as  a  pilgrim  or  beggar  Ml,  HC,  Bu 

(on  the  former  occasion  Pec). 
^59.  She  comes  to  Pome  Tr,  Em,  (HC,)  Ys,  Pec.  Bu,  MB, 

Mk,  En. 
W.  She  is  found  by  a  Roman  Bu,  En,  senator  Tr,  MB, 

Mk,  merchant  Em. 

61.  Her  protector  (20)  adopts  her  son  Tr,  Em,  HC,  Ys, 

(Pec,)  Bu,  MB,  Mk,  En. 

62.  The    son's    education   is    described   Ctr,)   Em,  Pec, 

Bu,  MB. 

63.  The   husband   lodges    at  Pome  in  the  house  where 

his  wife  is  Tr,  Em,  Ys,  MB,  Mk. 
^64.  A  banquet   is    held  Ml,  Tr,  Em,  HC,  Ys,  Bu,  MB, 

Mk,  En. 
^65.  The  mother  instructs  her  son  how  to  act  before  his 

father  Tr,  Em,  Bu,  (MB,)  01,  Pen. 
66.  The    child,    unknown   to  his  father,   serves  him  at 

table  Tr,  Em,  (Ys,)  Bu,  MB,  Mk,  En. 
^67.  The    company    are  charmed  with  the  child  Tr"^  Em, 

HC,  Pec,  Bu,  MB,  Mk,  01,  Pen. 
^  68.  His  father  asks  the  host,  'Is  this  your  son?'  Tr,  Em, 

(Bu,)  Mk,  01,  Pen.     (Cf.  61.) 

2:i: 


—     20     — 

69.  Tlie  heroine's  father  comes  to  Rome  to  do  penance 
\]^  (Tr,)  Em,  HC,  Bu,  MB,  Mk,  En. 

70.  His  grandson  rides  to  meet  him  T^,  Em,  HC,  Bu,  MB. 
Wl.  He  abdicates  Ti*^  HC,  MB,  Mk. 

72.  He  becomes  a  hermit  HC,  MB.  , 

^    73.  His  grandson   succeeds  to  the  empire  Tr,  Em,  HC, 
(Bu),  his  son-in-law  Ml,  MB,  Mk. 

74.  The  Saracens  are  mentioned  Tr,  Em,  HC,  Pec,  MB, 
En  (in  France  Em,  HC,  MB,  at  Rome  HC,  Pec, 
in  Greece  En,  in  the^East  Tr^  HC,  Pec). 

Of  the  twelve  versions  which  follow  d*,  Ys,  Pec  and 
Bu  (^*)  are  derived  from  *HC  (pp.  26—28)  the  original 
type  of  HC,  and  another  group  rj*  is  formed  by  Em,  MB, 
Mk,  En,  01,  Pen.  We  thus  have  four  chief  variants  of  (5*, 
viz.  *HC,  if,  Ml,  Tr.  To  discover  the  nature  of  d*  these 
must  be  examined  separately. 

(1.)  The  mixed  type  *HC.  The  French  romance  in 
alexandrines  HC  is  one  of  the  oldest  versions  of  d*.  It 
agrees  with  Tr  in  making  the  daughter  of  a  Greek  Emperor 
land  on  the  Northumbrian  coast,  here  doubtless  following 
the  common  source  d*.  The  heroine  on  her  second  journey 
reaches  Tours,  where  S^  Martin  the  Archbishop  takes  her 
sons  into  his  service.  One  of  the  sons,  Martin,  succeeds 
his  namesake  as  Archbishop  of  Tours,  the  other,  Brice, 
bears  the  name  of  S^  Martin's  actual  successor.  The  hus- 
band and  wife  meet  at  Tours,  and  proceed  together  to 
Rome.  The  author  is  specially  attached  to  Tours  and  to 
S<  Martin*).  ^*  (derived  from  *HC)  appears  to  have  been 
written  between  1347  and  1360  in  the  English  interest, 
perhaps  in  one  of  the  lands  belonging  to  the  duchy  of 
Normandy  (pp.  28  —  30).   It  seems  probable  then  that  *HC 


1)  Perhaps  he  was  also  acquainted  with  Flanders.  The  heroino 
lands  near  Sluys  during"  her  first  jo\irney.  The  mention  of  Court  ray 
and  Douay  in  some  of  the  i)rose  versions  of  HC  may  not  bi'lon,*;- 
to  the  poem,  of  which  no  analysis  appears  to  have  been  publislunl. 
The  mention  of  the  bishoj)  of  Amiens  may  be  due  to  Wauqueliii, 
in  whose  paraphrase  it  occurs.  See  Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  XXVIII, 


—    21     — 

was  a  form  of  the  saga  existing  in  Touraine,  and  partly 
localised  in  that  province. 

(2.)  Tr  also  contains  a  reference  to  St  Martin.  Alle"s 
steward  Elda  dies  at  Tours,  and  is  buried  in  S^  Martin's 
church.  Trivet,  who  was  an  English  Dominican,  is  re- 
markable for  the  accuracy  with  which  he  follows  his 
authorities').  He  claims  to  have  taken  this  story  from 
'the  ancient  chronicles  of  the  Saxons' 2).  After  correcting 
what  he  knows  to  be  an  error  in  these  chronicles,  and 
stating  truly  that  Constance  {Constantino)  the  daughter 
of  the  Greek  Emperor  Tiberius  Constantinus  was  the  wife 
and  not  the  mother  of  his  successor  Moris  (Mauritius),  he 
relates  the  fabulous  version.  There  seems  to  be  a  quot- 
ation from  an  English  original  in  the  following  passage 
(Brock,  p.  19)  where  Hermyngild,  an  Englishwoman,  makes 
the  sign  of  the  cross  on  the  eyes  of  a  blind  man  'et  lui 
dist  en  sa  langage  sessone,  ''Bisene  man,  in  lesus  name 
in  rode  islawe,  haue  pi  sighf\^  The  persons  in  Tr  bear 
ancient  Teutonic  names  {Bcaum.  I,  p.  LXXIII),  viz.  Alle 
(^Ella),  Domilde  [Ddmhild),  Hermyngild  {Eormmgild),  and 
Elda  or  Olda  {Ealda)  %  'Custe',  according  to  Tr,  was  the 
Saxon  form  of  Constance-*). 

Whether  Trivet  really  follows  an  ancient  English 
chronicle  is  doubtful.  Such  a  work  can  hardly  have  been 
older  than  the  12tH  century,  or  he  would  not  have  under- 


i)  H.  Morley,  First  Sketch,  13th  ed.    p.  90. 

-)  'Mes  come  dienl  les  aunciene  cronikes  de  Sessounz  .... 
Cisl,  solom  lestoire  de  Sessouns  auantdites,  estoit  le  fitz  Coiislaimce, 
la  fillo  Tyberie,  de  vn  rei  de  Sessouns,  Alle,  auanlnome,  quo  esloit 
lo  secund  Rei  de  Northumbre.' 

3)  The  fact  that  Tr  gives  two  forms  of  this  name  is  noteworthy. 
Elda  and  Olda  may  represent  an  O.  E.  derivative  of  eald,  corres- 
])onding  to  the  continental  Aldo,  of  which  Forstermann  (A.  D. 
Namenbiich)  gives  several  examples.  He  also  gives  the  following 
equivalents  of  Domilde:  —  Duamhilt  (Fulda),  Dumilda  (Rome), 
Domnehildis  (Morsan-sur-Seine),  Domnomldis  (Fontanelle).  Unfortun- 
ately the  work  does  not  include  English  forms. 

^)  'Custe:  qnar  issint  I'apellerent  les  Sessonei/s'. 


—     22     

stocxl  the  language.  The  marriage  with  the  Sultan'),  if 
indeed  this  is  not  an  invention  of  Trivet's,  points  to  a  date 
after  the  first  crusade.  The  burial  of  the  steward  at  Tours 
seems  to  indicate  an  Anglo-French  source.  An  old  English 
writer  would  hardly  have  said,  as  TVs  original  does,  that 
the  King  of  Northumbria  was  buried  at  Winchester.  Per- 
haps all  that  Trivet  implies  is  that  his  source  was  a  French 
chronicle  professing  to  deal  with  Saxon  history.  It  may 
have  contained  the  English  sentence  which  Tr  quotes.  Or 
the  chronicle  may  have  been,  like  Layamon's,  an  English 
paraphrase  of  a  French  work. 

(3.)  Ml  was  written  by  Jehan  Maillart  in  1312.  He 
gives  the  persons  no  names,  because,  as  he  says,  he  does 
not  know  them.  He  appears  therefore  to  have  conscienti- 
ously reproduced  the  story  as  he  heard  it-).  It  was  re- 
lated to  him  by  the  Sieur  of  Viarmes  and  Chambly^)  (near 
Pontoise  and  Senlis  respectively),  in  what  is  now  the 
department  of  Oise.  The  romance  however  is  entirely 
locahsed  in  the  country  near  the  middle  Loire.  The  father 
and  husband,  instead  of  being  princes,  are  Counts  of  Anjou 
and  Bourges.  The  final  meeting  is  at  Orleans,  instead  of 
Rome.   lEtampes,  Lorris,  and  Chartres  are  also  mentioned. 

(4.)  rf  \^  of  N.French  origin,  and  was  written  at  least 
as  early  as  1259  (MB).  Mk,  which,  though  not  immediately 
derived  from  rf,  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  com- 
plete versions  of  the  group,  was  the  work  of  Beaumanoir, 
a  nobleman  who  lived  in  the  Beauvaisis,  only  a  few  miles 
N.  of  the  estates  of  the  Sieur  de  Viarmes  et  Chambly. 
Beaumanoir  died  in  1296,  not  many  years  before  his  ncigh- 


^)  He  consents  to  be  ba])iized,  in  order  to  man'y  Constance. 
This  replaces  the  original  beginnin":  of  tlio  story,  to  which,  especi- 
ally the  Pope's  sanction  (45),  Trivet,  as  an  ecclesiastic,  would 
liardly  g-ive  currency.  The  incident  in  Tr  is  found  in  other  nar- 
ratives, e.  g.  Kimj  of  Tars. 

2)  P.  and  G.  Paris,   in  Hist  Utt.  de  la  France,   XXXT,  p.  322. 

3)  This  nobleman  took  part  in  the  negotiations  between  France 
and  Ii^ngiand  in  1303  {ut  supra,  ]).  320). 


—     23     — 

hour').  No  very  special  similarity  exists  between  Mk  and 
MI,  and  the  local  coincidence  may  be  a  mere  accident. 
Otherwise  it  might  be  conjectured  that  the  tale  was  cur- 
rent in  the  Beavaisis  in  the  latter  half  of  the  13th  century. 

Picardy  however  cannot  be  the  home  of  6*.  which  was 
certainly  a  version  of  an  English  semihistorical  saga,  and 
can  only  have  arisen  in  the  Anglo -Xorman  dominions. 
The  localisation  at  Tours,  which  we  find  in  HC,  and  of 
which  Tr  preserves  a  trace,  and  the  localisation  of  Ml  in 
the  neighbouring  provinces  of  Anjou,  Berry,  and  Orleans, 
lead  to  the  conjecture  that  the  saga  may  have  been  trans- 
planted from  England  to  Touraine  in  the  half- century 
1154 — 1205,  during  which  that  province  was  united  with 
England  under  the  house  of  Anjou. 

The  type  ^*  has  a  well  marked  character.  It  evid- 
ently belonged  to  that  class  of  half- learned,  pseudo- 
historical  metrical  narratives,  which  abound  in  the 
Norman  literature  of  the  12^1^  and  13th  centuries.  The 
heroine's  husband  is  still  a  Northumbrian  king  (18, 19,  49), 
as  in  the  older  saga,  but  his  wife  is  now  an  imperial 
princess  from  Byzantium  (42),  and  his  son  becomes  Emp- 
eror (73).  This  change,  and  the  mention  of  the  Saracens 
(74),  show  that  d*  was  written  after  1096,  the  date  of  the 
first  crusade.  The  author  evidently  altered  his  story  to 
flatter  the  national  pride  of  the  English,  or  rather  of  the 
Anglo-Normans,  who  at  an  early  date  began  to  identify 
themselves  with  the  conquered  people,  and  to  appropriate 
almost  indiscriminately  the  heroic  traditions  of  the  Welsh, 
Danes,  and  EngHsh-). 

The  meeting  with  a  Roman  senator  (60)  is  no  doubt 
the  invention  of  this  poet,  but  it  may  be  doubted  wlicther 
the  journey  to  Rome  (59)   does  not  belong  to  the  earlier 


1)  Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  XII;  P.  and  G.  Paris,  nt  supra,  p.  320. 

2)  Among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  tlie  sagas  of  Waldef 
and  (Juy  of  Warwick,  possibly  also  Athelstan,  and  Be  vis  of 
Hampton. 


—     24     — 

form    of  tlie  saga,    as Mils,  is  traditionally  said  to  liave 

made  such  a  pilgrimage*). 

The  reconciliation  of  the  parents  through  the  child, 
Avlio  waits  unrecognised  upon  his  father  at  table  (64 — 68) 
is  an  incident  found  in  other  sagas,  e.  g.  the  Charlemagne 
of  Venice^)  (13^^  cent.),  and  is  here  doubtless  borrowed. 
Several  other  tender  or  pathetic  incidents  occur  in  ()* 
(53,  55,  56,  58,  63,  70),  characteristic  of  the  Northern 
races,  originally  Normans,  then  English,  N.  French  and 
Germans,  who  adopted  this  type  of  the  saga,  and  con- 
trasting with  the  ferocity  and  passion  of  e*  (79  [contrast  46 1, 
80,  82),  a  type  more  popular  among  the  Italians  and 
Spaniards. 

Da,  Hu,  Vi,  (MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  Pen). 

75.  The    father   is    a   king   in   Eastern   Europe"'),    viz. 

Hungary  Hu,  Mk,  Dacia  Da,  Russia  En. 

76.  He  vows  to  his  dying  wife  only  to  marry  a  wonuin 

like  her  (Hu,  Vi,)  Mk,  01. 

77.  Search   is   made   for   such   a  woman  Hu,  Vi,    Mk, 

En-^),.  01,  H-  Bu. 

78.  The  daughter  consents  if  her  father  will  ^vait  Da, 

MB,  Mk,  4-  Ys. 

79.  He  admires  her  hands,  she  therefore  persuades  her 

servant  to  cut  them  off  Hu,  Vi,  01,  Pen,  (she  cuts 
off  one  hand  Da,  Mk). 

80.  She    sends   her  hands  to  her  father  01,  Pen,  in  a 

silver  dish  covered  with  a  cloth  Hu,  Vi. 


*)  This  of  course  is  a  fiction,  ^lla  appears  to  have  died  a 
lioallien. 

2)  I  J.  Gautier,  Les  Epopees  frarK^aises,  2e  ^d.  Ill,  pp.69,  70.  It 
is  Jicro  told  of  the  child  Koland.    Cf.  Uhlaiid's  balhid 'if/em  jeo/^mrZ'. 

3)  In  MB,  Ol  he  is  a  Roman  Emperor.  In  Vi  lie  is  Duke  of 
Guienne,  and  the  sag-a  is  connected  vvitli  the  100  years'  war.  This 
is  borrowed  from  the  ^*  group. 

4)  So  the  prose  (KR).    Like  llio  daii<ilit(M'  in  En. 


—     25     — 

81.  Her  hands  are  restored  before  her  marriage  Da,  Vi. 

01,  (at  the  end  of  the  story  Mk,  Pen). 

82.  The  substitutes  (40)  are  a  woman  and  child  Da,  01. 

83.  During  her  second  exile  the  heroine  is  in  domestic 

service   Da,   Hu,   Mk,  01  4-  Bu;   protected   by    a 
woman  Da,  Hu,  01. 

84.  The  Blessed  Virgin  aids  her  Hu,  Vi,  Mk,  01  4-  VM, 

(an  angel  Da,  a  sorcerer  Pen). 

The  connection  of  MB  with  his  group  is  shown  by 
106,  107,  109,  110,  111,  113—119. 

The  mixed  versions  MB,  Mk,  En,  all  of  which  belong 
to  the  latter  half  of  the  13th  century,  are  the  oldest.  MB, 
En  are  Austrian,  and  Mk  is  N.  French.  The  other  versions 
are  all  S.  European,  Da,  01  and  Pen  being  Italian,  Hu 
Catalan,  and  Vi  Spanish.  Vi.  which  is  a  mere  fragment, 
ending  with  the  heroine's  marriage,  is  possibly  derived 
from  Hu,  with  the  exception  of  the  allusion  to  the  hundred 
years'  war  (p.  30). 

e*  has  a  more  popular  character  than  d*.  One  or  two 
incidents  appear  to  be  borrowed  from  mdrcheny  e.  g.  76,  77, 
which  are  found  in  various  forms  of  Catskin^).  80  may 
be  of  similar  origin.  Perhaps,  like  01,  the  original  e*  was 
an  ecclesiastical  legend  (84). 

Why  the  father  is  a  King  of  Hungary,  Dacia  or  Russia 
(75)  is  not  clear.  Possibly  Da  has  preserved  the  localities 
of  the  original.  Here  a  daughter  of  a  King  of  Dacia 
marries  a  Duke  of  Austria,  and  afterwards  takes  refuge 
with  a  Count  in  Germany.  With  this  one  may  connect 
the  fact  that  the  two  early  Austrian  versions  MB  and  En 
are  in  part  derived  from  e*.  Suchier  {Beaum.  I,  p.  XLIII) 
suggests  a  blending  with  the  allied  Bertha  saga,  which  is 
a  variant  of  the  tale  of  the  Sivan-hnight ').  Bertha,  called 
the  great-footed  or  the  swan-footed,  and  thought  to  have 


*)  Catskin  (Allerleirauh,  Peau  (Vane)  corresponds  with  the  flrst 
part  of  the  Constance  saga,  and  the  first  part  of  the  Sivan-knight 
corresponds  with  the  second  part.    Of.  Suchier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  TiXXIX. 


—     26     — 

been  a  Valkj-ric,  like  Thrytlio  and  probabl}^  Constance,  is 
a  daughter  of  a  King  of  Hungary.  Some  writers  absurdly 
call  her  a  daughter  of  the  Greek  Emperor  Heraclius*) 
(cf.  42).  She  marries  Pippin,  but  a  wicked  old  nurse  sub- 
stitutes her  own  daughter,  and  instigates  Bertha  to  wound 
the  latter  (cf.  the  knight's  plot  in  Tr).  She  then  bribes 
some  servants  to  kill  Bertha,  but  they  take  pity,  and 
leave  her  in  the  forest  of  Maine.  Pippin's  cowherd  takes 
her  into  his  service  (cf.  36,  83).  The  nurse  confesses  and 
is  burnt  (cf.  21).  Pippin  hunting  in  the  forest  (cf.  23)  visits 
his  herdsman,  and  so  discovers  his  wife-). 

The  mixed  versions  which  connect  the  two  main  groups 
^*  and  7*  are  HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu,  01,  Pen.  Of  these  01 
and  Pen  borrow  very  little  from  /9*.  There  is  a  journey 
by  land  on  the  first  occasion  (3)  in  01,  and  on  the  second 
(28)  in  Pen.  Further  in  01,  as  in  HC,  Pec,  the  heroine  lives 
for  a  time  in  a  convent  (85),  and  the  king  finds  her  while 
hunting  (23).  In  Pen  the  cause  of  the  husband's  absence 
is  not  a  war,  but  a  journey,  which  may  be  compared  with 
Mk,  Ys,  Hu,  VM.  With  these  exceptions,  which  may  be 
due  to  borrowing  from  a  form  of  *HC,  01  and  Pen  belong 
to  the  group  7*. 

The  other  versions,  HC,  Y'^s,  Pec,  Bu,  are  very  closely 
connected  together.  As  is  shown  below,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu 
form  a  sub-group  ^*,  which  arose  in  the  14th  century  (p.28ff.), 
and  contains  scarcely  any  incident  common  to  other  vers- 
ions which  is  not  also  found  in  HC.    It  cannot  however 


1)  Gotfridi  Viterb.  Chron.    Pars  XVII.     So  Vincent  of  Beauvais. 

2)  G.  Paris,  Hist.  Pociique  de  Charlemagne,  Paris  1865,  p.  224  f. 
I'ossibly  lliere  is  a  confusion  with  tho  legend  of  S^  Martin  of 
Tours,  who  appears  in  (V*,  and  who  in  some  versions  of  HC  is 
idcnlifiod  with  the  heioincs  son  of  tlie  same  name.  S*-  Martin's 
parents  are  said  to  have  been  pagan  Pannonians  of  Sabaria  (Eisen- 
stadt)  in  wliat  later  became  llvnicarv.  He  converts  hi.4  mother. 
The  heroine  of  Tr  is  a  Christian  niai  ricd  to  a  Pagan.  S*  Edwin, 
whom  I  suppose  to  have  corrospondod  in  ()*  with  the  cliihl  !Martin 
of  HC,  was  the  son  of  pagan  pai'onts,  or  at  least  of  a  pagan  father. 


—     27     — 

be  derived  from  the  extant  version  of  HC,  as  in  the  latter 
the  saga  is  embedded  in  a  voluminous  mass  of  extraneous 
adventures,  which  are  so  interwoven  with  it  that  no  one 
ignorant  of  the  original  story  would  be  able  to  detach  it 
from  its  surroundings.  There  is  how^ever  no  trace  in  f* 
of  the  additions  of  HC.  It  may  therefore  be  concluded 
that  the  enormous  French  romance  HC  is  an  amplification 
of  a  simpler  tale  of  Helen  of  Constantinople,  which  may 
be  called  *HC.    This  was  also  the  source  of  ^*. 

*HC 
HC,  Ys,  Pec,  Bu. 

85.  The  heroine  lives  in  a  convent  HC,  Pec,  ■+-  01. 

86.  She  marries  the  King  of  England  HC,  Pec,  Bu,  -t-  Mk, 

(her  son.  becomes  King  of  England  Ys). 

87.  One  son  is  named  Lion  HC,  Lionetto  Pec. 

88.  She  lives  in  the  desert  HC,  Bu. 

89.  The  son  is  adopted  twice  HC,  Bu. 

90.  The  Pope   summons  the  husband  to  Rome  to  fight 

the  Saracens  HC,  (Ys,)  Pec. 

91.  The  husband  and  father  go  to  Pome  together  HC, 

Pec,  Bu. 

Some  further  points  of  agreement  will  be  found  under 
25,  28,  35,  37,  57,  59,  61.  The  connection  of  Ys  with  this 
group  appears  more  clearly  under  ^*  (below). 

There  are  a  few  discrepancies  between  HC  and  the 
other  variants,  f*  agrees  with  d*  in  omitting  the  mutil- 
ation of  the  heroine,  which  occurs  in  HC,  though  quite 
abnormally  before  the  second  flight  instead  of  the  first. 
The  burning  of  the  mother-in-law,  which  is  mentioned  in 
Ys  and  Bu  in  common  with  some  other  versions  (21),  is 
replaced  by  decapitation  in  HC.  In  the  latter  version 
there  seems  to  be  no  mention  of  the  king's  sojourn  in 
his  wife's  abode  at  Rome  (63),  an  incident  common  to  Ys 
and  ^*.  Y's  also,  together  with  ^*  and  Hu  (27),  omits  the 
first  forgery,  and  with  Of  1,  Hu,  Mk,  and  Pen  substitutes 


a  peaceful  journey  for  the  war^-  Bu,  a  German  variant 
of  f  *,  borrows  numerous  details  from  ^*,  another  German 
type  (p.  33). 

In  spite  of  these  differences  of  detail,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  Ys,  Pec  und  Bu  are  derived  in  the  main 
from  a  connnon  version  f  *,  and  that  the  source  of  this 
was  *HC.  HC  may  well  have  diverged  in  matters  of 
detail  from  *HC,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that  my 
information  respecting  HC  is  solely  derived  from  the  prose 
paraphrases  of  the  poem-). 

Ys,  Pec,  Bu. 

92.  The  father  is  a  King  of  France  Ys,  Pec,  Bu,  +  VM,  Vi. 

93.  The  heroine  escapes  the  first  time  in  man's  clothes 

Ys,  Pec,  disguised  Bu. 

94.  The  children  are  educated  by  the  Pope**)  Pec,  Bu 

(child),  by  a  Cardinal  Ys. 

95.  The  Pope  calls  a  General  Council  Ys,  Pec. 

96.  The   events   cause   the   Hundred   Years'  War   Ys, 

Bu,  +  Vi. 

This  type  changes  the  father's  country  from  Con- 
stantinople to  France.  Bu  has  a  distinctly  political  object*). 
The  author,  'der  Biiheler',  probably  belonged  to  the 
knightly   class,   and   was  born  in  N.  Alsace,  but  lived  at 


1)  The  husband  goes  on  a  journey  (Mk,  Ys,  Hu,  VM,  Pen), 
to  the  court  of  his  father-in-law  (Ys,  Hu,  VM),  and  attends  a 
lournament  or  other  festival  (Mk,  Ys,  VM).  Being:  quite  unable 
to  find  a  place  for  this  incident  in  my  scheme,  I  can  only  suppose 
its  recurrence  is  accidental,  or  that  the  detail  is  borrowed  from 
some  marchen.  In  three  cases  it  is  found  in  Italian  versions,  once 
in  a  Catalan,  and  once  in  a  French. 

2)  Thus  it  is  quite  likely  that  the  trivial  details  36,  51,  53,  62 
occur  in  HC,  and  if  they  are  not  there,  they  may  have  been  in  *HC. 

3)  In  HC,  the  heroine,  separated  from  her  sons,  is  protected 
by  the  Pope. 

4)  Soo  1^  Seeli.ff,  Hans  v.  Buhel,  in  Sfrassh.  Stud.  TH,  1888, 
pp.  243-335. 


—    29     — 

Poppelsdorf  near  Bonn,  where  he  was  in  the  service  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne.  He  wrote  this  poem  immedi- 
ately after  the  death  of  Richard  II  of  England,  when  a 
renewal  of  the  struggle  with  France  appeared  probable. 
He  was  clearly  kostile  to  the  House  of  Valois.  Sympathy 
with  the  English  cause  prevailed  on  the  Rhine.  The  rom- 
ance is  intended  to  support  the  English  pretensions  to  the 
French  crown.  The  son  of  the  King  of  England  is  defrauded 
by  the  French  nobles  of  his  lawful  claim  to  the  French 
throne,  which  he  derives  from  his  mother  the  heroine.  His 
father,  after  hastening  to  the  North  to  repel  an  attack  by 
the  Kings  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  invades  France  to 
support  his  son's  claim,  captures  Calais  and  other  fort- 
resses, and  quarters  the  arms  of  France  and  England  on 
his  flag.  Here  are  clear  allusions  to  Edward  Ill's  war 
with  Scotland,  which  began  in  1333,  his  subsequent  in- 
vasion of  France,  and  assumption  of  the  French  arms, 
and  his  capture  of  Calais  in  1347. 

The  claim  to  the  French  throne  was  surrendered  at 
the  peace  of  Bretigny  in  13G0,  and  was  not  formally  re- 
vived until  the  accession  of  Henry  V,  thirteen  years  after 
Bu  was  written.  F.  Seelig  suggests  that  the  author  fol- 
lowed an  earlier  political  version.  He  points  out  that 
Hans  von  Biihel,  in  his  other  poem,  a  version  of  the 
Diocletian  saga,  follows  his  text  closely,  without  display- 
ing any  originality.  His  conjecture  is  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  Ys  and  two  other  versions,  Vi  und  Fa,  comiect 
the  saga  with  the  Hundred  Years'  war.  In  Ys  the  King 
of  England  makes  one  of  the  heroine's  sons  the  heir  to 
his  kingdom,  and  the  author  states  this  to  be  the  ground 
of  the  English  claim  on  the  crown  of  France.  He  betrays 
however  no  definite  leaning  to  either  party.  He  (or  at 
any  rate  the  writer  of  the  manuscript)  wrote  in  1370,  and 
may  have  been  an  Italian  cleric').  In  the  Italian  novella 
Pec  there  is  naturally  no   political  allusion.     Of  the  two 

1)  The  story  is  found  in  the  middle  of  a  commentary  on  the 
Old  Testament,  hut  wliy  1  do  not  understand.     The  ms.  also  con- 


—     30     — 

15^^  century  versions,  Fa  is  hostile  to  the  English  claim, 
and  Vi  is  neutral.  Fazio,  who  admits  that  his  work  is  a 
compilation,  borrows  another  particular  from  this  group, 
viz.  85,  and  no  doubt  derived  the  political  allusion  directly 
or  indirectly  from  f  *. 

Gutierre  de  Games,  the  Spanish  author  of  Vi,  narrates 
the  saga,  in  a  fragmentary  form,  to  show  how  the  duchy 
of  Guienne  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  The 
connection  with  Guienne  is  perhaps  due  to  the  war  in  that 
province  which  ended  with  its  conquest  by  the  French  in 
1453,  while  Gutierre  was  writting  his  chronicle. 

f*  then  was  a  political  romance,  freely  adapted  from 
the  Anglo-French  *HC.  It  was  written  in  the  EngHsh 
interest,  at  some  time  between  1347,  when  Edward  III 
laid  claim  to  the  French  throne,  and  1370,  when  Ys  was 
written.  Probably  it  was  written  in  some  part  of  France 
which  was  in  English  hands,  and  before  1360,  when  the 
English  king  dropped  his  extravagant  pretensions. 

In  1359,60  Sir  Walter  Manny,  an  Anglo-French  com- 
mander, ravaged  Picardy  and  Artois  with  a  German  army 
hired  from  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  the  Dukes  of 
Geldern  and  Julich.  Hans  v.  Biihel,  who  was  iu  the 
service  of  a  later  Archbishop,  and  seems  to  have  been 
a  soldier,  may  have  heard  the  story  from  the  veterans 
who  had  fought  in  this  campaign  forty  years  before.  It 
is  not  impossible  that  he  was  one  of  them  himself ').  His 
romance  is  drawn  apparently  from  memory  or  oral  nar- 
ration 2),  chiefly  from  this  Anglo-French  political  romance, 
but  numerous  incidents  are  taken  from  some  form  of  «*, 
which  appears  to  have  been  an  Austrian  chronicle.  The 
relation  of  Bu  to  t*  is  examined  below,  p.  33. 

tains  a  commentary  on  Dante.  All  is  apparently  written  ]\y  the 
same  hand. 

1)  If  so,  he  must  have  been  at  least  70  wlien  he  composed 
Dyocletianus  in  1413. 

2)  IJii  4251  'ich  kan  nit  der  geschriffV.  See  tlie  whole  passage 
11.4245—4251.  It  is  noteworth}"  that  in  llu,  as  in  Ml,  which  is  also 
based  on  oral  tradition,    the  jjcrsons   in   the  story  are  not  named. 


31 


rj- 


Em,  (MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  Pen). 

97.  The    father   calls   his   (laughter   to  a  banquet  Em, 

MB,  Mk,  En. 

98.  Her  first  voyage  lasts  a  week  Em,  Mk. 

99.  She  changes  her  name  Em,  Mk. 

100.  The  king  at  the  feast  (52)  announces  his  intention 

of  marrying  her  Em,  MB,  Mk. 

101.  Her  second  voyage  lasts  a  week  (cf.  98)  Em,  MB,  Mk. 

102.  The  boat  drifts  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  with- 

out  any   interruption  of  the  voyage  (cf.  57)  Em, 
MB,  Mk,  En. 

103.  The  husband  faints  when  he  bears  of  the  treachery 

Em,  MB,  Mk,  En,  h-  Bu  »). 

104.  The   child  is    7  or  8  years  old   when  he  meets  his 

father  Em,  MB,  Mk,  +  Hu. 

105.  The   heroine,    wearing   her  rich  robe,   is  led  in  to 

mcM^t  her  husband  Em,  MB,  En. 
Em  is  a  translation  or  paraphrase  of  an  Anglo-Norman 
or  N.  French  romance  IJEgarec  which  we  may  designate 
*Em-).  While  Em  substitutes  '(ialys'  for  Northumbria, 
Mk  preserves  the  locality  of  (5*  (49).  Other  particulars 
which  rf  derives  from  6*  are  also  absent  from  Em,  viz. 
43,  47,  53,  60  (senator),  71,  72.  It  is  therefore  improbable 
that  *Em,  which  Em  seems  to  have  followed  closely,  was 
the  source  of  the  other  versions  of  rf.  The  source  of  rf, 
viz.  (5*,  and  its  two  derivatives  *Em  and  iT  (p.  32)  appear 
to  have  been  French,  and  such  in  all  probability  was  /y* 
itself.    It  was  already  in  existence  in  1259  (MB). 

^* 

MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  Pen. 

106.  The  heroine  is  ten  years  old  when  her  mother  dies 

MB,  Mk. 

107.  She  reads  the  Psalter  MB,  Mk. 


1)  See  p.  33. 

2)  Cf.  my  inaug-.  diss,  on  Emare,  p.  19  ft". 


—     32     — 

108.  Nobles   urge  the   father   to   marry   again  Mk,    En, 

H-  Bu »),  Hu. 

109.  The   heroine    begs  tlie    servants  to  save   her  chikl 

MB,  Mk,  En,  01,  -+-  Bu »). 

110.  She   is    shut  up  in  a  closed  boat  MB,  or  box  En, 

01,  Pen. 

111.  It  drifts  miraculously  up   the  Tiber  to  Rome  MB, 

Mk,  En. 

112.  The  mother-in-law  is  walled  up  alive  Mk,  En. 

113.  The  father's  confession  leads  to  the  recognition  MB, 
•     Mk,  En,  4-  Bu »). 

The  well  marked  type  i^*  is  formed  by  a  blending 
of  d*  and  £*.  Prom  the  latter  it  borrows  75 — 84.  Being 
the  source  of  the  Picard  or  Anglo-French  Mk-),  the 
Austrian  t*,  and  the  Italian  01,  it  can  hardly  have  been 
other  than  French.  Mk  stands  very  close  to  the  original 
'<>*,  but  cannot  l)e  identical  with  it,  as  some  important 
particulars  are  wanting,  e.  g.  48,  54,  74,  79,  80,  110.  MB 
and  En  form  a  sub-grouj)  i/\  and  01  and  Pen  another 
more  loosely  attached  sub-group. 

I* 
MB,  En. 

114.  The  heroine,  instead  of  cutting  off  her  hands,  cuts 

off  or  tears  her  hair  MB,  En,  (and  scratches  her 
face  En). 

115.  When  rescued  the  first  time,  she  accuses  herself  of 

a  crime  MB,  En,  +  ?  Hu. 

116.  She   lands   in  Greece,    and   there  marries  a  count 

MB,  the  king  En. 

117.  The  same  vessel  in  used  on  both  occasions  MB  -h  Bu*). 


1)  See  p.  33. 

2)  Beaumanoir  lived  in  tlie  Beauvaisis.  Bovdior  (quoted  by 
Suchier)  supposes  on  plausible  g:rounds  lliat  he  lived  in  En^rland 
as  a  pa^e  between  1261  and  1265,  a  few  years  before  writintr  Alk, 
his  first  romance.  He  may  have  found  his  material  in  Knpland. 
The  scene  of  liis  other  romance  Jehan  et  Blonde  is  laid  in  Oxford 
(Suchier.  Btaum.  1,  pp.  X,  XI). 


—     33     — 

118.  The  Roman  (60)   is  walking  on  a  bridge  when  he 

sees  the  vessel  in  the  Tiber  MB,  En. 

119.  The  Pope  baptizes  the  child  MB,  En. 

MB  and  En,  tw^o  of  the  oldest  extant  versions  of  the 
saga,  were  both  written  in  the  second  half  of  the  13th  cent- 
ury, and  in  the  same  Austro-Bavarian  dialect.  The  un- 
known authoi^  of  MB  states  (ed.  Pfeiffer,  col.  3,  10  ff.)  that 
he  heard  it  from  a  knight  who  had  read  it  in  a  prose  chron- 
icle. En  forms  part  of  a  Viennese  rimed  chronicle.  The 
prose  version  KR,  which  closely  agrees  with  En,  and  is 
written  in  the  same  dialect,  may  perhaps  be  its  source, 
and  certainly  stands  nearer  the  original  (Strauch,  and  cf. 
Suchier,  Beaum.  I.  XXXVI,  XXXVII).  Neither  KR  nor 
En  is  the  source  of  MB.  All  three  are  perhaps  derived 
from  an  Austrian  chronicle. 

The  fourth  German  version  of  the  saga,  Bu,  while 
derived  in  the  main  from  f*,  borrows  numerous 
details  from  this  purely  German  group  i*,  viz.  7,  54, 
55,  56,  60,  65,  66,  77,  103,  108,  109,  113,  117.  All  of  these 
occur  in  MB,  except  77  and  108,  whicli  are  in  KR.  Bu 
also  contains  41  (MI,  Vi,  01,  Bu)  and  83  (Da,  Hu,  Mk,  01,  iki), 
both  of  which  point  to  -?>*,  and  therefore  easily  to  ^^  In 
52  Bu  agrees  with  Ml  and  Em. 

There  remain  the  two  Italian  versions  01  and  Pen. 
They  both  appear  to  be  of  popular  origin.  01  is  the  oldest 
extant  version  of  the  Tuscan  legend  of  St.  Ohva,  the 
subject  of  various  popular  dramas.  The  Neapolitan  novella 
Pen,  of  the  early  17^^  century,  by  far  the  latest  of  the 
versions  under  consideration,  has  assumed  the  form  of  a 
fairy  tale. 

Their  close  mutual  connection  is  showm  by  their 
agreement  in  the  following  particulars,  21,  31,  32,  33,  36, 
39,  46,  51,  65,  67,  68,  79,  80, 110,  and  by  one  detail  peculiar 
to  the  two,  viz. 

120.  The  heroine  enters  the  service  of  a  queen  01,  Pen. 

Palaestra  XXIII.  3 


—     34     — 

01,  which  is  the  older  version,  has  alone  of  the  two 
23,  34,  40,  41,  45,  57,  76,  77,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85,  109. 
Pen  has  scarcely  anything  common  to  other  versions  which 
is  not  also  found  in  01.  There  are,  it  is  true,  some  ex- 
ceptions. The  two  journeys  are  by  sea  and  land  respectively, 
as  in  7*  and  ^*,  whereas  in  01  the  first  is  by  land  and 
sea,  and  the  second  by  sea.  In  Pen  a  journey  takes  the 
place  of  the  war,  as  in  several  versions').  The  hands 
are  not  restored  till  the  end  of  the  story,  as  in  Mk.  The 
miracle  is  wrought,  not  by  the  Blessed  Virgin,  but  by  a 
sorcerer,  whom  Suchier  (Beaum.  I,  p.  LV)  identifies  with 
the  hermit  of  /9*,  who  plays  the  same  part.  Some  of  these 
coincidences  may  well  be  accidental,  and  on  the  whole  it 
may  be  fairly  assumed  that  Pen  is  derived  by  popular 
tradition  from  some  form  of  01,  probably  from  one  of  the 
miracle-plays. 

The  connection  of  01  with  i9>*  is  indicated  by  7,  31, 
(65,)  63,  76,  77,  79,  80,  81,  82,  83,  84,  109,  110.  On  the 
other  hand  3,  23,  32,  57,  and  85  seem  borrowed  from  *HC. 
33,  34,  40,  45,  67,  and  perhaps  21,  36,  41,  51,  are  common 
to  the  two  sources  -^^  and  *HC. 


II.   Relation  to  History. 

1.   The  Northumbrian  Saga  of  MWd^  and  Eadwine. 

Trivet's  chronicle  contains  the  only  existing  version  of  the 
iConstance  saga  in  which  the  hero  is  identified  with  any 
[historical  personage,  for  Offa  I  can  hardly  be  regarded 
as  such.  The  heroine  of  Tr  marries  King  'AUe'  of  North- 
umberland, i.  e.  ^Ua  of  Deira,  who  died  in  588.  We 
have  already  found  reason  to  think  that  Tr  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  its  beginning)  follows  very  closely  the  important 
type  6*,  the  original  of  half  the  literary  versions  (p.  21  f.). 
Suchier  has  suggested  a  clue,  by  which  perhaps  the 
connection   of  the   ancient  saga  with  .Ella  of  Deira  may 


1)  Of.  p.  28,  n.  1. 


—     35     — 

be  explained.  He  says  {Beaum.  I,  p.  LXXIV):  "Dans  le 
recit  de  la  Vita  Offa3  [I],  oii  le  caract^re  populaire  est 
tr6s  marque,  on  s'etonne  de  trouver  a  la  place  de  la 
belle-mere  le  gendre  du  roi.  Est-il  possible  de  mettre  en 
rapport  cette  circonstance  avec  les  evenements  bistoriques 
de  la  vie  d^^Ua?  Ce  dernier  etait  fils  d'an  Uffa  ou  Yffi, 
et  son  gendre  Ji]dilfritb,  roi  de  Bernicia,  ennemi  du 
christianisme,  persecuta  Eadwin,  jeune  fils  d'^lla,  qui  se 
refugia  chez  Cadvom  [Cad van]  roi  de  Gwynedb  [Gwynedd]. 
La  fille  d\^lla,  epouse  d'.^dilfritb,  s'appelait  Acba;  le 
nom  de  sa  femme  nous  est  inconnu  (Lappenberg,  Geschichte 
von  England^  I,  144)." 

The  force  of  this  argument  is  rather  weakened  by 
several  inaccuracies.  It  must  not  be  understood  that 
Eadwine  (like  Constance  and  her  son  in  Tr^)  was  per- 
secuted as  a  Christian,  for  he  remained  a  Pagan  till  after 
his  enemy's  death.  I  can  find  no  authority,  beyond  Lappen- 
berg, for  the  form  Uffa-),  which  suggests  Uffi  and  Uff'o^ 
tlie  Danish  forms  of  the  original  Oifa's  name  in  Sueno 
Aggonis  and  Saxo.  It  wouhl  however  be  fanciful  to  connect 
the  name  of  Ji^Ua's  father  with  Offa,  if  there  is  no  authority 
for  the  form  Uffa. 

A  more  serious  error  is  the  statement  that  Offa's 
son-in-law  plays  the  traitor.  This  mistake  is  due  to  the 
analysis  of  Of  1,  given  with  the  Latin  text  by  Brock  and 
Furnivall  {Originals  and  Analogues.,  I).  The  analysis, 
'that  very  prince  who  had  wedded  Olfa's  daughter,"  is 
quite  different  from  the  original,  which  has  ^'illiiis  Regis, 
cujus  filiam  Off  a  sibi  matrimonio  copidavei^at.''^  The  heroine 
therefore  in  Of  1  is  persecuted  on  both  occasions  by  her 
own  father"'). 


^)  The   persecution   by   heathen  Saracens  only  occurs  in  Tr, 
and  belongs  to  an  episode  wliicli  is  certainly  not  original. 

2)  A.  S.  Chron.   Ylfe,  Flor.  Wig.   Yffa,  Nennius  ///V,  lien.  Hunt. 

lira. 

8)  As   in   the  closely  allied  Roumanian  folk-tale  z  (p.  7),   and 
in  a  tale  by  Straparola  (I,  4). 

3* 


—     36     — 

In  spite  of  this,  Suchier's  theory  by  no  me«T,ns  devoid 
of  probability.  It  is  clear  from  Tr  that  the  saga  was 
attached  to  ^]lla  of  Northumbria.  The  question  arises 
whether  other  versions,  including  Of  1,  preserve  traces  of 
this  remarkable  application  of  the  saga.  Five  versions  in 
all,  including  three  of  the  oldest,  contain  allusions  to 
Northumbria  or  Scotland. 

Of  1  (12  th  cent.).  Offa,  king  of  the  W.  Angles  of 
Warwick,  marries  the  daughter  of  a  Prince  (Regulus)  of 
York.  The  king  of  the  Northumbri,  harassed  by  pagan 
Scots  and  rebellious  subjects,  acknowledges  Offa's  supremacy, 
and  in  return  receives  his  support  against  his  enemies, 
and  the  hand  of  his  daughter. 

Mk  (c.  1270).  The  heroine  lands  at  Berwick  (1.  173). 
She  meets  the  Scottish  king  at  Dundee  (1.  1241),  and 
marries  him.  His  mother,  who  plays  the  traitress,  receives 
as  a  residence  the  city  of  York ')  (1.  2400).  There  is  no 
war.  The  king  of  Scots  evidently  represents  an  original 
Northumbrian  or  Deiran  king,  as  York  is  one  of  his 
cities.  Beaumanoir  may  well  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
existence  of  a  Northumbrian  kingdom. 

HC  (?  13  ih  cent.).  Helen  lands  on  the  English  coast 
near  Newcastle  on  Tyne,  where  King  Henry  is  hunting. 
Here  it  is  the  Pope  who  appeals  for  help,  and  the  enemy 
are  Saracens,  but  there  is  perhaps  a  war  with  the  Scots 
on  another  occasion.    See  p.  12,  n.  1. 

Tr  (c.  1340).    The   heroine    lands   in  the  kingdom  of- 
Northumbria,  near  the  Humber.    King  Alle,  who  marries 
her^  goes  to  fight  the  Scots.    His  mother  resides  at  Knares- 
burgh,  a  few  miles  from  York  (cf.  Mk). 

Bu  (1400).  The  king  of  England,  who  has  married 
the  heroine,  hastens  to  the  north  to  oppose  an  invasion 
by  the  kings  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Although  there  is 
certainly  a  reference  to  Edward  Ill's  campaigns,  tlu^ 
incident  is  apparently  of  older  origin. 

1)  Evoluic  =  Eoforwic,  Sucbier,  Beaum.  I,  p.  LXXIII.  In  II  u 
the  place  is  called  Eres. 


—     37     — 

In  many  versions,  vSaracens  take  the  place  of  Scots, 
a  trait  evidently  belonging  to  crusading  times.  Suchier's 
conclusion  (Beaum.  I,  LXXIV)  that  a  Scottish,  and  not 
a  Saracenic  Avar,  was  original,  is  beA^ond  dispute. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  above  details  in  the  Constance 
saga,  we  may  now  turn  to  ^lla  and  his  family  in  history 
and  tradition. 

According  to  the  A.  S.  Chron.,  .Ella  was  the  first 
king  of  Deira,  his  father  Yffi  having  been  ealdorman  of 
that  country.  .Ella  began  to  reign  in  the  year  in  which 
king  Ida  of  Bernicia  died  (559),  and  most  authorities ') 
regard  him  as  his  successor,  i.  e.  as  king  of  all  North- 
umbria,  while  others-)  give  a  list  of  Bernician  kings.  It 
is  clear  that  the  relations  between  the  two  Northumbrian 
states  were  unsettled,'  and  that  now  Bernicia,  now  Deira, 
claimed  the  supremacy^).  yElla  wrested  it  from  Bernicia, 
to  which  however  it  reverted  during  the  minority  of  his 
son  Eadwine.  This  prince  finally  in  617  reasserted  the 
supremacy,  which  he  had  lost  as  a  child. 

The  king  of  Bernicia,  then,  was  Ella's  vassal.  In 
Of  1  the  vassal  Northumbrian  king  demands  in  marriage 
the  hero's  daughter.  Now  J^thelfrith,  king  of  Bernicia, 
did  marry  Ella's  daughter.  The  former's  father  Jj]thelric 
reigned  it  is  true  till  593,  five  years  after  .Ella's  death, 
but  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  J^thelfrith  was 
the  actual  ruler  of  Bernicia  during  the  latter  years  of  his 
father  s  life,  and  that  it  was  he,  and  not  ^Ethelric,  who 
actually  overthrew  JElla,   and   seized  Deira**).    At   least 


1)  B.  g.  A.  S.  Chron.,  Wm.  Malm.,  Hen.  Hunt. 

2)  E.  s-  ^'lor.  Wig. 

a)  Hen.  Hunt.  II  §  40  (R.  S.  p.  65)  Reges  .  .  .  Nordhumbre  hi 
sunt  ex  ordine.     Primus  Ida;  iEUa;  Edelfert;  Edwinu.s. 

4)  Cf.  n.  3.  Nennius  (H.  13.  §  63)  says  that  ^thelfrith  reigned 
12  years  in  Bernicia,  and  12  in  Deira.  (He  did  reign  24  years 
from  his  father's  death.)  A  vahiable  Life  of  St.  Oswakl  written 
soon  after  1170  (ed.  T.  Arnold  ^vith  Sim.  Dimelm.,  I,  R.  S.)  makes 
the  following  direct  statements.  Cap.  2,  p.  341,  EJlo  .  .  .  ohiit,  et 
Edwinum    filinm,  Acc;r    videlicet   fratrera,    regni    superstileni  de- 


—     38     — 

such  a  tradition  was  current,  and  that  suffices  for  our 
purpose.  vEthelric  is  described  as  extremely  feeble  and 
old.  His  son,  as  we  know,  proved  the  most  energetic 
and  aggressive  prince  who  had  yet  appeared  among  the 
English  ^).  The  expulsion  of  Eadwine  the  infant  heir  of 
Deira  is  quite  in  accordance  Avith  ^thelfritirs  proverbial 
ferocity  (cf.  Plummer,  Bmlce  Op,  Hist.  II,  p.  64). 

It  is  however  not  certain  that  he  married  JEUa's 
daughter  Acha  before  her  fathers  death.  The  theory 
that  in  Of  1  there  are  traces  of  an  JilUa  saga,  assumes 
that  at  least  such  a  tradition  was  current.  And  such  is 
the  case.    It  is  repeatedly  and  emphatically  stated  in  the 


reliquit.  Ethelfridus  .  .  .  Berniciorum  rex,  licet  sororem  Edwini 
ref;is  Deirorum  iixorem  habuerit,  tamen  g-lovia3  ciipidus  eum  regno 
])epiilit,  et  aliquando  pro  eo  regnavit;  and  again,  cap.  26,  p.  362, 
[Ethelfridus]  EUam  regem  Deirorum,  cujus  filiam  duxerat,  nou 
solum  regno  pepulit,  sed  diversis  etiam  afflciendo  cladibus,  et 
jiluribus  exlurbando  .sedibus,  denique  vita  simul  et  regno  priv- 
avit;  cap.  27,  p.  363,  gladio  peremit.  (Plummer,  Bcedw  Op.  Hist. 
II,  p.  93,  erroneously  makes  the  Vita  S.  Oswaldi  rejjresent  uEthdric 
as  the  slayer  of  ^lla.) 

On  the  other  hand  the  similarity  of  the  names  may  have  led 
to  a  mistake.  Thus  Layamon  calls  .Etholfrilh  .Ehuic  (1.  20967, 
Calig.  A.  IX),  and  Rob.  of  Brunne,  EkfrUc  (R.  S.  II,  p.  532)  and 
Elfrik. 

1)  Yita  S.  Oswaldi^  cap.  26,  p.  362.  Quia  jam  tcmporis  sonio 
et  vitae  prolixioris  acvo  in  filiis  Idae  regni  succes.sio  esse  non  potuit, 
jam  ad  alios,  sed  tamen  ad  ejusdem  generis  consobrinos,  regni 
jus  haereditarium  descendit.  Unde  iste  Ethelfridus  .  .  .  secundi 
filii  Idae  Alius,  id  estEthelrici  fflii  progenitus,  extitit,  quiquo  jam 
deflcientibus  Idae  filiis  sicut  nepos  ipsius  pro  illis  regii  juris 
rognum  percepit.  Wm.  Malm.  Bk.  I,  §  46  (R.  S.  I,  p.  46)  Alia 
mortuo,  adeptus  est  regnum  Ethelricus  IdtB  Alius,  post  detritam 
in  penuria  aetatem,  extrema  canitie  provectus,  sed  veloci  morte 
de  medio  post  quinque  annos  sublatus.  Miserabilis  princeps,  et 
quem  fama  obscura  i)rorsus  occulerot,  nisi  fllii  conspicuus  vigor 
patrem  in  speculam  extulisset.  §  47.  Itaquo  cum  longo  senio 
satietati  vitae  satisfecisset,  Ethelfridus  regnum  ascendit,  major 
filiorum. 


—     39     — 

Vita  S.  Osivaldi  (capp.  2,  26,  27.    See  the  quotations  above, 
p.  37,  n.  4).    It  is  nowhere  directly  contradicted  *). 

In  Of  1,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  Northumbrian 
king  appeals  to  his  over-lord,  the  hero  of  the  story, 
for  help  against  invading  Scots,  and  in  other  versions 
the  hero  marches  against  the  same  enemy.  Aedan 
mac  Gabrain,  king  of  Scots  (Dalriada),  who  reigned  from 
574  to  606,  and  was  therefore  a  contemporary  of  Jillla 
and  J^]thelfrith,  was  a  powerful  and  restless  chief,  constantly 
at  war  with  his  neighbours  (Plummer,  Bede,  II,  pp.  64—66). 
Among  other  enterprises,  he  invaded  the  Isle  of  Man 
some  five  years  before  Ella's  death.  At  a  later  date  he 
waged  a  war  with  ^thelfrith,  ending  in  his  own  over- 
throw at  Degastan  in  603.  According  to  Fordun's  Scoti- 
chronicon{lll^2S)^c\n  untrustworthy  work  of  the  14111  century, 
this  prince  was  the  ally  of  Maelgwn  king  of  Gwynedd 
or  N.  Wales  against  the  English  at  the  battle  of  Fethanleag. 
The  A.  S.  Chron.,  suh  anno  584,  states  that  Ceawlin  king 
of  Wessex  defeated  the  Britons  in  this  battle,  but  the 
Scots  are  not  mentioned.  Fordun  places  Fethanleag  on 
Stanemore  in  Westmoreland,  close  to  the  frontier  of  Bernicia. 
It  is  however  most  probably  Faddiley  in  Cheshire-).  Dr.  Guest 
{Origincs  Celticai,  II,  285  f.)    maintains    that    the    alleged 


')  J.  R  Green  {Making  of  England^  p.  247,  n.)  thinks  the 
marriage  foUoweil  ^^lla's  death.  A  son  of  ^thelfrith  and  Acha 
was  Oswy  (Wm.  jMalm.)  who  was  born  c.  613.  (The  statement  of 
Vita  S.  Osw.  I,  p;  340,  and  Biog.  Misc.  p.  8,  that  he  was  a  bastard 
son  of  ^Etholfrith  is  not  generally  credited.)  Acha  had  also  a 
daughter,  St.  yEbba,  who,  as  Bede  says  {Vit.  Cudb.  X),  was  Oswy's 
uterine  sister.  This  implies  that  if  they  were  Acha's  legitimate 
children  she  was  married  twice.  Now  if  she  married  yEthelfrith 
before  588  (the  date  of  yElla's  death),  it  is  hardly  li'kely,  unless  she 
was  divorced,  that  she  had  a  daughter  (iEbba)  by  a  second  marriage, 
for  ^Ethelfrith  lived  till  610;  nor  again  is  it  likely  that  St.  JEhha 
was  the  child  of  a  marriage  which  ended  before  588,  for  she  was 
still  politically  active  in  681.  .  Of.  Plummer,  Bede,  vol.  II,  pp.  101,  230. 

2)  Haigh',  Anglosaxon  Sagas,  p.  167.  Guest,  Origlnes  Celticce,  II, 
pp.  280-289. 


—     40     — 

Scottish  participation  in  this  battle  is  a  mere  invention 
of  Fordun's.  There  is  however  nothing  impossible,  or  even 
improbable,  in  a  combination  of  the  two  Christian  Celtic 
powers  ofDalriada  and  Gwynedd  against  the  A nglo-saxon 
pagans.  If  Aedan  marched  south  to  join  an  ally  in 
Cheshire,  Bernicia  would  be  the  first  English  kingdom  to 
come  in  conflict  with  him.  We  learn  from  the  A.  S.  Chron., 
sub  anno  597,  the  very  singular  fact  that  Ccolwulf,  who 
ascended  the  throne  of  Wessex  in  that  year,  fought  the 
Picts  and  Scots. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  in  the  Constance  saga 
the  heroine  bears  a  son  while  her  husband  is  away  fighting 
the  Scots,  it  is  a  curious  coincidence,  if  nothing  more, 
that  the  battle  of  Fethanleag  was  fought  a  few  months 
before  Eadwine's  birth  ^). 

On  the  death  of  his  father  J^lla  in  588,  the  infant 
Eadwine  was  carried  out  of  his  country-;,  and  spent  many 
years  in  exile,  wandering,  as  Bede  {H.  E.  IT,  12)  informs 
us,  from  one  kingdom  to  another.  According  to  an  ancient 
Welsh  tradition,  the  child  was  brought  up  in  Gwynedd 
or  N.  Wales.  One  of  the  'Triads  of  the  Isle  of  Britain' 
affirms  that  'the  three  chief  plagues  of  Anglesey  were 
bred  in  it;  Catli  Paluc,  the  second  was  Daronwy,  and  the 
third  Edwin,  king  of  England '0.  (Edwin  fought  the  N.  Welsh 
after  his  restoration.)  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  gives  a 
curious  distorted  version  of  Eadwinc's  a/lventures.  His 
account,  which  supports  the  above  passage  in  the  Triads, 
is  doubtless  drawn  from  some  Welsh  tradition.    He  says 


1)  It  appears  from  Bede,  H.  E.  II,  20,  that  he  was  born  in  585. 

2)  Vita  S.  Oswaldi  capp.  2,  27;  Flor.  Wig.  ed.  Tiiorpo,  1848, 
vol.  I,  p.  6;  Lappenberg,  T,  p.  144  (Engl,  trans.,  I,  p.  145);  J.  R.  Green, 
Making  of  England^^.2^1  n.;  Had  dan  &  Stubbs,  Councila,  I,  p.  124  n,; 
Plummer,  Bede,  II,  p.  93;  cf.  Rh5^s,  Celtic  Britain,  p.  128. 

3)  The  Myvyrian  Archaiology  of  Wales,  ed.  John  Thomas.  Gee's 
reprint,  Denbigh,  1870,  p.  30.-^  Triocdd  yvys  Frydain.  81.  Teir 
prif  ormes  Mon  a  fagwyd  ynddi,  Cath  Paluc,  yr  oil  oedd  Daronwy, 
ar  trydydd  Edwin  frenhin  Lloegr.  I  am  indebted  to  F.  G.  Gordon 
Esq.  for  the  translation. 


—     41     — 

{Hist.  Brit.  XIT,  §  1)  that  after  the  battle  of  Chester  (which 
was  probably  fought  in  616 ')  Cadvan  king  of  N.  Wales, 
and  iEthelfrith  agreed  to  divide  Britain  between  them. 
'Interea  contigit  ut  expulsa  propria  conjuge  Ethelfridus 
aliam  duceret:  expulsamque  tanto  haberet  odio,  ut  earn 
ex  regno  Northanhunibria'  expelleret.  Porro  ilia  puerum 
in  utero  habens  regem  Caduanum  adivit:  orans  ut  ejus 
interventione  marito  suo  resociafetur.  Cunique  id  ab 
Ethelfrido  nuUatenus  impetrari  potuissct:  remansit  ilia  in 
thalamo  Caduani,  donee  dies  partus  filiuni  quern  conceperat 
in  munduni  produxit.  Xatus  est  etiam  paulo  post  (Jaduano 
regi  filius  ex  regina  conjuge  sua:  nam  et  ilia  eodem  tempore 
gravida  facta  fuerat,  exin  nutriti  sunt  pueri,  ut  regium 
genus*  decebat,  quorum  alter  videlicet  Caduallo  nuncupatur, 
alter  vero  Edwinus.  Interea  .  .  .  miserunt  eos  parentes 
ad  Salomonem  regem  Armoricanorum  Britonum,  ut  in 
domo  ejus  documenta  militia%  ca*teraruni(iuo  curialium 
consuetudinem  addiscerent/  Each  succeeds  his  father, 
and  after  a  period  of  friendship  they  quarrel,  and  Cadwallon 
slays  Eadwine. 

Geoffrey  of  course  cannot  be  taken  very  seriously  as 
a  historian.  His  strange  mistake  in  making  Eadwine  the 
son  of  .4^]thel frith  may  have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  his  immediate  successor.  At  the  date  of  the  battle 
of  C;hester,  Eadwine  was  about  31  years  old.  The  con- 
nection of  this  event  with  his  sojourn  in  Wales  seems  to 
be  a  mistake^).   Lappenberg  (I,  p.  144),  W.  Hunt  (D.  A^  j5. 


1)  Plummer,  Bede^  vol.  II,  p.  77. 

-)  Two  other  accounts  of  Eadwine's  sojourn  at  Cadvan's  court 
arc  perhaps  horrowed  from  (reolTroy.  A  Welsh  catalogue  of  saints 
{Bonedd  y  saint,  in  Mi/v.  Arch.  p.  424,)  quotes  from  the  'Llyvyr 
Henry  Rowland',  the  age  of  which  is  unknown  to  me,  a  notice  of 
'Edwen,  a  female  saint  of  a  Saxon  [English]  line,  she  was  either 
a  daughter  or  a  niece  of  Edwin,  king  of  Northumherland,  who 
was  brouglit  up  from  his  birth  in  the  court  of  Cadvan  at 
Caersegaint;  her  church  is  in  Anglesey.'  (Edwen,  Santes  o  Lin 
Saeson,  naill  ai  Merch  ai  nith  i  Edwin  frenhin  Northumherlant 
yr    liwu    addygpwyd   i    fynu    yn  llys  Gad  van  ynghersegaint;  ym 


—     42     — 

s.  V.  Edwin)  and  other  authorities  are  inclined  to  credit 
the  story  that  Eadwine  lived  as  an  infant  at  Cad  van's 
court*).  Although  he  and  his  mother  may  have  been 
temporary  refugees  there,  he  can  hardly  have  become  the 
Welsh  king's  foster-son  2),  for  he  was  not  baptized  till 
627.  Geoffrey's  romantic  story  of  the  strangely  linked 
fortunes  of  the  foster-brothers  is  no  doubt  a  legendary 
development  of  the  historical  tradition. 

The  essential  point  is  not  the  historical  truth  of  the 
story,  but  the  existence  of  a  legend.  And  this  agrees  in 
several  points  with  the  Constance  saga.  The  heroine  of 
the  latter  flees  with  her  child  from  the  supposed  wrath 
of  her  husband  (in  En,  as  in  Geoffrey,  from  his  actual 
wrath),  to  a  foreign  land,  where  her  child  (in  many 
versions)  is  adopted  by  a  great  lord.  In  Da,  a  count 
Marco,  the  protector  of  the  heroine,  brings  up  her  son  as 
the  foster-brotlicr  of  his  own  infant,  who  is  of  the  same 
age-').  The  children  become  inseparable  friends,  like 
Eadwine  and  Cadwallon. 


Mon  mae  ei  heglwys.)  The  other  account  is  in  the  Vita  S.  Oswaldi, 
cap.  9  (Sim.  Dimelm,  R.  S.  I,  p.  345).  'Postea  [after  the  battle  of 
Chester]  Cadwanus  cis  Humbram  regnans  Edwinum  .  .  .  nutrivit 
cum  Cadwallone  Alio  suo.'  Wm.  Malm,  §  47  writes  that  ^Ethel- 
frith  exiled  Eadwine  after  the  battle  of  Chester,  but  does  not 
mention  Wales.  William  cannot  have  borrowed  this  story  from 
Geoffrey's  work,  which  was  written  somewhat  later,  but  the  two 
men  were  probably  personally  acquainted.  (Wm.  Malm.,  Gest. 
Reg.  od.  Stubbs,  R.  S.  vol.  I,  pp.  XLIVf.,  XCIf.) 

1)  T.  E.  Tout  {D.  N.  B.  s..v.  Cadvan)  rejects  the  tradition.  Skene 
{Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales,  I,  pp.  67,  68)  dates  Cadvan's  accession 
603,  and  holds  that  the  King  of  Gwynodd  in  588  was  either 
Maelgvvn  or  lago.  It  is  worth  remark  that  the  E.  Anglian  king 
Redwald,  with  whom  Eadwine  also  took  refuge,  is  in  the  Vita 
S.  Osivaldi,  cap.  9,  erroneously  called  a  king  of  the  Britons. 

2)  So  Haigh,  Anglosaxon  Sagas,  p.  177.  On  the  otlier  hantl 
Gildas  and  Nennius  agree  in  describing  the  religious  condition 
of  the  Welsh  courts  as  exceedingly  debased. 

3)  Ed.  Wesselofsky,  p.  83  ff. 


—     43     — 

In  the  group  d*  of  the  Constance  saga  the  mother 
and  child  are  under  the  care  of  a  Boman,  either  a  sen- 
ator, citizen,  cardinal,  or  Pope.  The  child  is  baptized 
in  MB  and  En  b}^  the  Pope,  in  HO  by  a  bishop.  In  the 
group  /9*  the  protector  is  a  hermit.  Eadwine,  as  we  learn 
from  Bede  {H.  E.  II,  cap.  14),  was  baptized  in  627  by 
Paulinus,  archbishop  of  York.  The  Annalcs  Camhrice 
however,  sub  anno  626,  state  that  he  was  baptized  by 
Run  the  son  of  Urhgen,  and  the  continuator  of  Nennius 
§  68  says ')  that  Rum  map  Urhgen  baptized  Eadwine,  and 
12,000  of  his  people  with  him.  Haddan  and  Stubbs  (Coun- 
cils^ I,  p.  124  n.)  remark  that  'Run  the  son  of  Urien  was 
a  Cumbrian  chief  celebrated  by  Taliessin.  He  may  possibly 
have  become  a  priest  subsequently'.  This  Urbgen  or 
Urien,  aided  by  other  chiefs  of  Strathclyde,  is  said  to 
have  fought  two  Bernician  kings,  brothers  and  predecessors 
of  ^^]thelric-).  Young  Eadwine,  in  the  course  of  his 
wanderings,  may  have  been  protected  by  the  family  of 
Urbgen,  whose  enemies  the  Bernicians  were  his  own.  If 
Run  or  Rum  was  called  in  Latin  Roma7ius^)^  we  can 
understand  how  the  protector  in  the  C-onstance  saga  has 
become  a  Roman,  and  the  heroine  wanders  with  her  son 
to  Rome.  Possibly  also,  like  so  many  C'eltic  princes  of 
that  time.  Run  became  a  hermit  in  his  old  age. 

Trivet's  version  alone  is  quite  sufficient  to  prove 
/that  the  Constance  saga  was  applied  to  ^lla  of  Deira*). 
IXhis  conclusion  is  unaffected  by  any  doubt  which  attaches 

')  This  according  to  Plummer  {Bcde,  vol.  IT,  p.  100)  is  an 
evident  gloss.  He  says  'tlie  whole  story  may  be  dismissed  as  a 
fable  intended  to  claim  for  the  British  church  a  principal  share 
in  the  evangelisation  of  Northiimbria.' 

2)  Con  tin.  Nenn.  §  63.     Skene,  Cdtic  Scotland,  I,  pp.  156,  159. 

3)  Haddan  and  Stubbs  {loc.  cif.)  think  he  may  have  been 
confused  with  one  of  several  contemporary  ecclesiastics  named 
Komanus  or  Rotmn.  Panlinus,  it  should  be  remembered,  was  an 
Italian,  and  was  sent  from  Rome. 

1)  But  cf.  the  next  section,  p.  46  ff.  Note  that  in  HC  as  in 
Tr  the  period  is  that  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity. 


—         44:         — 

to  the  other  concidences.  The  discrepancies  can  be  mostly 
accounted  for  by  the  popularity  of  the  folk-talc,  which  was 
of  course  better  known  than  the  historical  facts.  The 
traitor,  actually  ^Ella's  son-in-law,  has  become  the  typical 
mother-in-law  of  the  heroine.  M\\£{,  really  perished  when 
his  wife  and  son  were  banished,  and  the  latter  only 
regained  his  inheritance  by  conquest.  In  the  saga,  they 
naturally  meet  at  the  end,  and  'live  happily  ever  after'. 
Eadwine,  the  real  founder  of  the  Northumbrian  state, 
and  the  great  champion  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  North, 
was  such  a  figure  as  those  about  whose  memory  heroic 
traditions  are  wont  to  gather.  His  whole  life,  as  told  by 
Bede,  is  crowded  with  adventures.  They  give  the  story 
a  quasi-epic  character,  which  is  hardly  found  elsewiiere 
in  the  Ecclesiastical  History^  and  which  suggests  that  Bede 
is  following  some  heroic  poem  *).    Among   the   legends  of 


1)  Cf.  Bffida,  H.  E.,  II,  capp.  9,  12,  13,  14,  16,  20.  The  Acta  SS. 
throw  no  further  light  on  the  question.    St.  Edwin's  day  is  Oct.  6. 

Ten  Brink  {Beoivulf-nntersuchungm,  in  Q.u.  F.  LXII,  pp.  224  —  227) 
grives  reasons  for  the  belief  that  the  conditions  in  Northumbria  in 
the  former  half  of  the  Tth  cent,  were  extremely  favourable  for  the 
growth  of  epos. 

Skeat  {Havelok,  E.  E.  T.  S.  Extra  Series  IV,  pp.  XXIX— XXXI V, 
esp.  XXXIII)  has  proved  that  some  traditions  about  Eadwine 
were  incorporated  in  the  Havelok  saga.  By  comparing  the  names 
in  the  four  extant  versions  of  the  latter,  he  shows  that  the  Godrich 
of  the  English  poem  is  ^thelfrith  of  Bernicia.  When  Havelok 
attacks  and  slays  Godrich,  who  has  treacherously  deprived  him 
of  his  wife's  inheritance,  and  Avhen  he  is  afterwards  himself  slain 
by  Saxons,  he  corresponds  to  Eadwine  who  slew  yEthelfrith  at 
the  Idle,  and  was  himself  slain  by  Penda  at  Haethfeld.  Again 
Havelok,  like  Eadwine,  marries  the  daughter  of  King  .T^thelberht, 
and  in  each  case  the  Archbishop  of  York  performs  the  ceremony. 
The  resemblance  of  Havelok's  fortunes  to  those  of  Eadwine  accounts 
for  the  fusion. 

There  are  some  slight  parallels  between  the  sagas  of  Havelok 
and  Constance.  Havelok's  mother,  like  the  heroine  of  HC,  is 
called  Eleyne  (Skeat,  pp.  XI,  XII).  A  taithful  servant  places  the 
child  and  his  mother  on  board  a  ship,  and  accompanies  them  in 
their    fUght   (cf.  p.  17  no.  B4).     According    to  a  Grimsbv    Irndition 


—     45     — 

the  royal  saint  was,  as  we  have  seen,  one  that  told  of 
his  mother  s  flight  to  a  Welsh  court.  As  constantl}^  happens 
in  such  cases,  an  ancient  folk-tale,  current  among  the 
Angles,  attached  itself  to  this  historical  tradition.  The 
result,  corresponding  with  7*  (if  not  with  a*),  was  probably 
one  of  that  vanished  class  of  English  epics,  which  are 
only  known  through  their  Anglo-Norman  imitations  {Ouy 
of  Warwich  &c.),  or  through  later  English  versions  (Athel- 
ston). 

The  question  remains  whether  this  ^Ua  and  Eadwine 
saga  is  the  original  of  all  the  literary  versions  (a*),  or 
only  of  the  group  7*.  An  attempt  is  made  below  (p.  53  ff.) 
to  show  that  the  other  group  ^*  is  a  form  of  another  and 
later  semi-historical  saga,  that  of  Offa  of  Mercia  and 
Cynethryth.  Now  two  coincidences  between  the  saga  and 
the  history  of  .-Ella  have  been  mentioned,  which  belong 
only  to  one  version  of  the  saga,  viz.  Of  1,  the  oldest 
form  of  |5*.  The  incidents  referred  to  are  the  recognition 
by  the  king  of  Bernicia  (Northumbria)  of  the  hero's  over- 
lordship,  and  his  marriage  with  the  hero's  daughter.  It 
is  a  singular  coincidence  that  Offa  of  Mercia,  as  well  as 
MWvi  of  Dcira,  was  over-lord  and  father-in-law  of  a  North- 
umbrian king.  The  allusion  in  Ofl  may  be  to  .^thelred 
of  Northumbria,  son-in-law  of  Offa,  and  not  to  ^Ethelfrith 
of  Bernicia.    The    war   with    the  Scots  would,   it  is  true. 


(Skeat,  p.  XX)  Grim  found  the  infant  drifting  in  a  boat,  and 
adopted  him  (cf.  p.  19,  no.  61).  Young  Havelok,  in  spite  of  his 
'king's  mark'  (as  in  ICm,  Da),  grows  up  ignorant  of  his  royal  origin. 
As  the  Havelok  saga  undoubtedly  borrowed  details  from  the 
traditions  about  Eadwine,  these  coincidences,  slight  as  they  are  in 
themselves,  support  the  view  that  the  Constance  saga  belonged 
to  an  epic  cycle  dealing  with  Eadwine  and  his  house. 

Lastly,  Skeat  argues  (p.  XXX)  with  much  force,  that  the 
narrators  of  the  Lai  of  Havelok  made  use  of  writings,  such  as 
those  to  which  Layamon  is  indebted.  The  sources  of  both  were 
Welsh.  We  have  already  seen  that  an  Eadwine  saga  existed  in 
Wales.  But  as  the  names  in  Tr  show  (p.  52,  n.  1)  the  source  of 
d*  was  certainly  English  rather  than  Welsh. 


—     46     — 

suit  the  latter  better,  for  there  is  no  evidence  that  either 
J^thelred  or  Offa  fought  the  Scots,  who  were  indeed  re- 
markably quiet  in  that  agc^). 

Rejecting,  as  I  think  we  safely  may,  the  alternative 
theory  discussed  in  the  next  section,  I  regard  the  type  7* 
as  a  form  of  the  iElla  and  Eadwine  saga.  The  question 
whether  a*  was  already  applied  to  these  historical  per- 
sonages must  remain  unsolved. 

2.    Constantine  II,  King  of  Scots,  and  Anlaf 
Cuaran  of  Northumbria. 

An  alternative  theor}^  suggested  by  the  repeated 
occurrence  of  the  name  Constantine  in  the  saga,  has  been 
proposed  by  Suchier.  In  Tr  the  heroine's  father  is  .l^^lla's 
contemporary  the  Eastern  Emperor  Tiberius  Constantinus^ 
who  reigned  578—582.  In  Co  the  father  is  an  emperor 
called  Contasti.  In  KR  the  heroine's  son  Constantlnus 
becomes  king  of  Greece  after  his  father.  In  HC  the 
heroine's  father  Antoine,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  is 
succeeded  by  Constantine^  King  of  Bordeaux.  Suchier 
observes  {Beaum.  I,  p.  CLIX  f.)  "Ce  nom  . . .  doit  appartenir 
a  la  tradition  originale,  que  je  suppose  avoir  etc  une 
chanson  epique  en  dialecte  angle  (p.  LXXIII).  Le  Con- 
stantin  de  cette  chanson  6tait  peutetre  ce  Constantmus  III, 
rexScottorum  (roi  d'ficosse  ou  roi  d'Irlande?  Voir  VAthenceum 
du  29  aodt  1885),  dont  la  fille  epousa  la  pa'ien  Anlav,  roi 
de  Northumbrie  et  de  Dublin,  et  qui  perdit  en  938  la 
bataille  de  Brunanburg.  Comme  la  tradition  suivie  par 
Trivet  6tait  mutil6e  au  commencement,  il  a  pu  prendre 
Constantin  pour  Tempereur  Constantin,  et  Anlav  pour 
Alia,  et  comme  Anlav  se  fit  baptiser  plus  tard,  il  6tait 
facile  de  supposer  qu'il  avait  ete  converti  par  son  Spouse." 
.  This  theory  and  that  which  traces  the  saga  back  to 
^lla  and  Eadwine  are  of  course  mutually  exclusive,  and, 


*)  They  were  however,  it  is  said,  allies  or  vassals  of  Charle- 
magne, and  so  may  have  been  hostile  to  Offa.    Cf.  p.  59. 


—     47     — 

as  has  been  seen,  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  latter 
theory. 

Constantine  *)  king  of  Scots,  whom  Suchier  calls  the 
Third  of  the  name,  is  often  accounted  the  Second.  He 
reigned,  not  over  the  Scots  of  Ireland-),  but  of  Scotland, 
from  900  to  943.  His  son-in-law  Anlaf ')  or  Olaf  Sitricson, 
surnamed  Cuaran,  was  a  prince  of  mixed  Norse  and  Celtic 
blood.  On  the  death  of  his  father  Sitric  king  of  Dublin 
and  Deira  in  927,  the  young  heir  was  expelled  from  the 
latter  kingdom  by  JEthelstan  king  of  England.  Anlaf 
lived  in  exile  at  Constantine's  court,  and  married  his 
daughter  some  time  before  934.  The  two  allied  princes 
invaded  Northumbria  in  937,  but  were  routed  at  Brunan- 
burh.  In  spite  of  this  disaster,  Anlaf  was  chosen  king 
of  Northumbria  in  940.  He  adopted  the  Christian  faith 
in  943,  and  Eadmund  of  England  stood  sponsor  to  him 
and  his  fellow  king  Reginald.  However  in  the  following 
year  Eadmund  drove  them  both  from  Northumbria,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  Irish  overran  Anlafs  other  kingdom, 
Dublin.  Anlaf  sailed  thither  and  recovered  his  Irish 
possessions.  In  949  he  reestablished  himself  in  North- 
umbria, but  his  subjects  drove  him  finally  out  of  that 
kingdom  in  952.  The  rest  of  his  long  reign  was  spent 
in  Ireland.  After  his  crushing  defeat  at  Tara  in  980,  he 
abdicated  and  went  on  pilgrimage  to  lona,  where  he  died 
the  next  year.  Besides  Constantine's  daughter,  he  had 
two  Irish  wives,  and  left  several  sons,  one  of  whom, 
Gluniarainn,  succeeded  him  in  Dublin. 


^)  My  account  of  Constantine  and  Anlav  is  taken  from  the 
Did.  Nat.  Biog.  s.  v.  Constantine  II  {JE.  Mackay),  and  Olaf  Sitricson 
(MivSS  A.  M.  Cooke),  and  from  J.  H.  Todd's  life  of  Anlav,  appended 
to   The  Wat'  of  the  Gaedhil  iv'.th  the  Gaill,  R.  S.  48,  pp.  280—287. 

2)  Suchier  alludes  to  this  supposition  for  the  sake  of  com- 
parison with  the  legend  of  St.  Dympna,  virgin  and  martyr  of 
Antwerp,  daughter  of  an  Irish  King.  I  can  see  no  very  close 
connection  between  her  story  and  the  Constance  saga,  though  they 
are  allied. 


—     48     — 

I  notice  the  following  points  of  agreement  with  the 
Constance  saga,    and    more  particular!}'  with  the  type  6*. 

1.  The  heroine's   father   is  named  Constantine  Tr,  Co. 

Cf.  HC,  KR. 

2.  She   marries    a   king   in  Northumbria   Mk,  HC,  Tr, 

(Of  1). 

3.  The   husband   is    a   heathen,   but   is    converted    Tr 

(Cf.  HC). 

4.  The  name  Anlav,  Anlat  or  Olaf  might  be  confused 

with  ^lla. 

5.  The  hero  leaves  his  kingdom  for  several  years,  and 

crosses  the  sea,  to  repel  Irish  (Pec,  Bu)  invaders 
from  a  city  in  his  dominions. 

6.  The  heroine's   husband   and  father  and  the  Scottish 

king  are  allied  together  against  a  common  enemy 
HC. 

7.  The  father  abdicates  Tr,   HC,  MB,  MK,  and  (Miters 

the  religious  life  HC,  MB. 

8.  The  husband  goes  on  pilgrimage. 

These  coincidences  will  now  be  considered  separately. 

1.  Tr,  HC,  KR  are  forms  of  the  half-learned  type  d'\ 
which  arose  in  crusading  times,  and  represents  the  heroine 
as  a  Byzantine  princess  *).  Nothing  would  be  more  natural 
than  to  introduce  the  name  Constantine.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  in  three  cases  (Tr,  Co,  HC)  Constantine  is 
an  emperor,  and  in  three  (Tr,  HC,  KR)  he  is  a  Greek. 
The  father  is  nowhere  connected  with  Scotland-).  As  the 
name  Constantine  is  applied  to  three  different  persons, 
the  heroine's  father  (Tr,  Co),  her  son  (KR),  and  hor 
father's  successor  (HC)  it  may  have  been  introducinl  in- 
dependently   in    each    case.      In    two    versions    indeed. 


^)  I  cannot  determine  the  relation  of  Co  to  Ww  olhor  versions, 
being  io^norant  of  its  contents  (p.  0). 

=^)  In  Da  he  is  king  of  Dacia.  Dacians,  as  often,  m-A\  si  a  ml 
for  Danes.  But  otlier  versions  of  this  ijionp  £*  have  Hungary  and 
Russia. 


—     49     — 

KR^  and  Tr^  a  special  reason  may  be  found  for  the  use 
of  the  name.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  original  of  6*  had 
Constantine  king  of  Scots,  the  name  may  have  suggested 
Constantinople. 

2.  Anlaf  was  only  de  jure  king  of  Northumbria  when 
he  married  Constantine's  daughter.  He  did  not  actually 
come  into  his  kingdom  till  several  years  later.  The 
circumstances  of  his  marriage  are  totally  different  from 
those  of  the  king's  marriage  in  the  saga.  In  the  former 
case  the  lady  marries  a  fugitive  at  her  father's  court,  in 
the  latter  she  is  a  fugitive  from  her  father  at  the  court 
of  her  future  husband. 

3.  Here  the  saga  tits  Anlaf  better  than  ^Ua,  for  the 
latter  died  a  heathen.  In  Tr  the  king  is  converted  through 
his  Christian  queen.  This  may  have  been  the  case  with 
Anlaf,  as  it  was  with  ^]thelborlit  of  Kent,  and  other 
princes. 

4.  Trivet,  who  calls  the  hero  Alle,  follows  (5*,  in 
which  a  Greek  emperors  daughter  marries  a  king  of 
Northumbria.  If  the  names  of  the  two  sovrans  in  (5*  were 
C/Onstantine  and  Anlav  (the  latter  perhaps  in  some  French 
modified  form),  a  learned  chronicler,  such  as  Trivet  was, 
nn'ght  identify  them  either  with  the  emperor  Constantine  VII 
(Porphyrogennetos,  912 — 958),  and  his  contemporary  Anlaf, 
or,  as  Trivet  actually  did,  with  Tiberius  Constantinus  and 
his  contemporary  .Ella.  Through  Bede,  and  other  writers, 
^lla  was  better  known  than  Anlaf.  Porphyrogennetos 
was  succeeded  (and  perhaps  murdered)  by  his  son,  whereas 
the  successor  of  Til)erius  was  his  daughter's  husband 
Mauritius.  The  saga  therefore  which  represents  the  emperor 
as  succeeded  by  his  daughter's  son,  would  have  appeared 
to  suit  Tiberius  best.    Trivet  remarks  on  the  discrepancy 


1)  Tlio  name  liero  according  to  Suchier  {Beauni.  T,  LXXV  n.) 
may  be  borinnvcd  from  Constantine  the  Great,  of  whose  infancy 
a  similar  tale  is  told. 

2)  Cf.  p.  21. 

Palaestra  XXTII.  ^ 


—     50    — 

with   regard    to  Mauritius,   whom  he  knows  to  have  been 
the  husband,  and  not  the  son,  of  Constantina. 

5.  In  Bu  the  king  of  England  repels  an  invasion  by 
the  kings  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  In  Pec  he  departs 
to  conquer  a  rebellious  island  (which  seems  to  indicate 
Ireland).  In  HC  he  goes  to  Rome  to  deliver  it  from  the 
Saracens  who  are  besieging  it.  These  three  versions 
belong  to  the  same  group  *HC.  In  Of  1  a  vassal  king 
appeals  for  help  against  the  Scots.  In  Tr  the  invaders 
are  'the  people  of  Albany,  who  are  the  Scots'.  In  En 
the  hero  repels  invading  heathen.  In  MB  he  delivers  his 
uncle  the  king  of  Castile  from  Saracens.  It  should  be 
noted  that  some  versions  make  the  king  cross  the  sea, 
and  others  make  him  defend  his  own  territory.  He  does 
both  in  Pec  (cf.  MB).  Now  Anlaf  ruled,  or  attempted  to 
rule,  both  in  Northumbria  and  in  Ireland.  The  circum- 
stances of  his  departure  from  Northumbria  in  944  are 
peculiar.  We  learn  from  the  A.  S.  Chron.  and  other  Engh'sh 
sources  (Ethelwerd,  Flor.  Wig.)  that  he  was  expelled  l)y 
Wulfstan  archbishop  of  York,  and  that  King  Eadmund 
added  Northumbria  to  tlie  English  dominions.  It  was  in 
the  same  year  944  that  the  Irish  conquered  the  kingdom 
of  Dublin,  and  burnt  the  city.  The  commander  of  the 
Danish  garrison  was  Blacar,  a  nephew  of  Anlaf  s,  and 
apparently  his  deputy.  In  945  Dubhn  has  been  recovered, 
and  Anlaf  reigns  there.  It  may  be  that  when  in  944 
Anlaf  heard  of  the  invasion  of  Dublin,  he  hurriedly  sailed 
thither  with  his  army,  and  that  Eadmund  seized  the 
opportunity  of  recovering  Northumbria.  Or  Anlaf,  threatened 
simultaneously  in  both  his  kingdoms,  may  have  preferred 
to  save  Dublin,  and  await  an  opportunity  (which  presented 
itself  live  years  later)  of  regaining  his  lost  hold  on  North- 
umbria. English  chroniclers  would  represent  his  departure 
from  Northumbria  as  expulsion.  Partisans  of  Anlaf  would 
tell  a  different  story.  As  time  went  on,  and  he  became 
a  legendary  hero,  Danish  tradition,  while  preserving  the 
memory   of   his    victories,   would   ignore   Eadmund's   live 


—    51     — 

years'  occupation  of  Northumbria.  Anlaf,  like  the  hero 
of  the  saga,  may  have  left  his  queen  behind  in  safe  keep- 
ing, when  he  sailed  away  to  the  war. 

G.  In  HC  the  father,  who  is  emperor  of  Constantinople, 
the  heroine's  husband,  who  is  king  of  England,  and 
Amaury  king  of  Scotland  are  leagued  together  in  a  w^ar 
against  the  heathen.  In  949  Constantine,  now  a  monk, 
came  out "  of  his  cloister,  and  joined  his  successor  Malcohn 
king  of  Scots,  and  Anlaf,  in  an  attempt,  which  proved 
successful,  to  expel  Eadmund  from  Northumbria. 

7.  Constantine  resigned  his  crown  in  943,  and  entered 
a  monastery  at  S*  Andrews. 

8.  Anlaf,  after  his  overthrow  at  Tara,  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Ion  a  in  980,  which  might  perhaps  be  compared 
with  the  pilgrimage  of  the  hero  in  the  saga.  Constantine's 
daughter  was  however  dead  or  divorced  long  before  this. 

We  have  to  choose  between  these  coincidences  and 
those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  section,  which  appear 
to  connect  the  Constance  saga  with  .Ella  and  Eadwiue. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  evidence  for  an  A^Ahx 
saga  is  the  stronger.  One  would  certainly  not  expect 
Constantine  of  Scotland  and  Anlaf  to  become  the  heroes 
of  an  English  saga.  The  poem  on  the  battle  of  Brunan- 
burh  breathes  the  national  hatred  wiiich  these  foreign 
invaders  aroused.  It  is  indeed  possible  that  the  half-Norse 
population  of  Northumbria,  fretting  under  Westsaxon  rule, 
cherished  their  memory.  And  if  the  Constance  saga  is 
to  be  connected  with  Anlaf,  it  is  to  this  population  and 
not  to  Northmen  or  Kelts  that  w^e  must  look.  Suchier 
(Paul  &  Braune  IV,  p.  521)  recognises  genuine  Anglo-saxon 
elements  in  the  saga.  In  Of  1  another  version  is  found 
established  among  the  Mercian  Angles.  Trivet's  express 
identitication  of  the  hero  with  JElla  is  of  great  weight, 
especially  as  his  account  is  certainly  drawn  from  much 
older  documents  (whatever  'the  ancient  chronicles  of  the 
Saxons'  were),  and  preserves  names  which  can  only  have 
been  taken  from  English,  and  not  fromKeltic  or  Scandinavian 

4* 


—     52     — 

sources  ^).  It  is  however,  as  might  be  expected,  among 
the  Kelts  and  Northmen  that  Anlaf  appears  as  a  legendary 
hero.  He  is  mentionod  in  numerous  Norse  sagas  -).  Above 
all,  he  was  celebrated  by  the  Welsh,  and  afterwards  by 
the  Anglo-Normans,  as  Abloyc,  Aveloc,  or  Havelok  the 
Dane.  G.  Storm  {Engl.  Stud.  Ill,  p.  533)  and  H.  L.  D.  Ward 
{Catalogue  of  Romances  in  the  B.  M,  1883, 1,  pp.  423 — 446, 
940)  have  conclusively  proved  the  identity  both  in  name 
and  story  of  Anlaf  Cuaran  and  Aveloc  Cuaran**).  The 
latter  has  little  or  nothing  in  common  with  the  hero  of 
the  Constance  saga^). 

It   appears   then   that   the   alleged  connection  of  the 
saga  with  Constantine  and  Anlaf  is  purely  imaginary. 


1)  Trivet's  Alle  does  not  agree  with  any  form  of  Anlaf.  Tlio 
O.  N.  Anleifr,  Olafr  =  O.  E.  Anlaf  [A.  S.  Chron.),  O.  Ir.  Amlaihh  {War 
of  the  Gaedhil,  p.  47  &c.),  O.  Welsh  Ahloyc  {Brut  y  Tywysogmij  and 
Ann.  Camh.  an.  942).  If  the  source  were  Norse,  one  would  expect 
in  O.  Pr.  Olave,  if  Welsh,  Aveloc.  The  O.  E.  Eoforivic  (Trivet's  Evoluic) 
is  O.  N.  Jork,  and  O.  E.  Eormengild  (TriAct's  Hermyngild)  Avould  bo 
O.N.  *Jarmungild.  It  is  strange  that  in  Tr,  one  of  Ihe  i)ersons  lo 
whom  Alle  entrusts  his  queen  is 'Lucius,  bishop  of  Bangor'.  Thei-c 
is  also  mention  of  Christian  Britons  in  pagan  Northumhria. 

2)  Cf.  the  list  in  War  of  the  Gaedhil  pp.  CI,  n.  1,  280. 

3)  Anlaf  appears  in  the  Welsh  Annals,  by  a  well  known  plionetic 
change,  as  Abloyc.  The  form  Aveloc  or  Havelok,  sliows  tliat  tlie 
saga  cannot  be  indigenous  in  the  Grimsby  district,  but  must 
have  been  imported  from  the  Kelts.  The  authoi-  of  the  P'rencli 
lai,  which  according  to  Skeat  (ed.  Havelok,  E.  E.  T.  S.)  was  written 
in  England,  mentions  together  with  several  Lincolnshire  place- 
names,  a  port,  Carlefiure,  which  cannot  be  identified,  but  ihe  name  has 
a  decidedly  Welsh  look.  Welsh  princes  of  Strathclyde  were  among 
Anlaf's  allies  at  Brunanburh.  Skeat  {Havelok,  p.  IV),  tbodgli  un- 
aware of  the  identification  with  Anlaf,  argues  on  otlier  grounds 
that  'the  tradition  is  British  or  Welsh'.  For  Havelok's  connection 
with  Eadwine  see  above,  p.  41,  n.  1. 

4)  Unless  his  wife's  name  Argentille  or  Goldehoru  can  be  con- 
nected with  the  heroine's  treasures  and  radiant  robe. 


—    53     — 

3.    The  Thrytho  saga,  and  Offa  and  Cynethrytli 
of  Mercia. 

(a.)    The  Lives  of  the  Two  Offas. 

The  hero  of  the  oldest  extant  version  of  the  Constance 
saga  is  the  half  -  mythical  Anghan  king  Offa  I.  This 
version  connects  the  important  group  ^*  with  the  very 
ancient  saga  of  Offa  and  Thrytho,  which,  if  not,  as  some 
think,  originally  identical  with  the  Constance  saga,  has  at 
least  heen  blended  with  it.  It  appears  in  its  most  com- 
plete form  in  the  Vita  Offce  II,  part  of  the  same  work  in 
which  Of  1  is  found,  and  again  in  a  fragmentary  form  in 
Beoivulf  1931 — 1962.  Its  origin  and  relation  to  the  Con- 
stance saga  have  been  investigated  by  Suchier  in  Paul 
and  Braune's  Beitrdge  IV,  pp.  500 — 521,  tlber  die  Sage 
von  Offa  und  {wy'bo. 

The  ijatin  work  called  Vitce  duorum  Off'anmi  was  prob- 
ably composed  in  the  12tii  century*),  but  follows  older 
documents.  The  author,  once  erroneously  supposed  to 
have  been  Matthew  Paris,  belonged  to  the  abbey  of 
S<^  Albans,  of  which  Offa  of  Mercia  was  a  benefactor,  if 
not  the  founder.  Mercian  records  were  no  doubt  preserved 
in  the  abbey.  The  former  of  the  two  Offas  is  the  pre- 
historic king  of  the  continental  Angles  mentioned  in 
Beoividff  Widdth  35 — 44,  and  in  the  Mercian  genealogies 
of  the  A.  S.  Chron.,  Nennius,  &c.  Saxo  and  Sueno  Aggonis, 
who  wrongly  -)  call  him  a  Dane,  tell  the  well-known  story 
of  his  youthful  torpor,  and  his  combat  on  the  Eider"'). 
This  saga  is  found,  singularly  enough,  in  the  Lives  of 
both  the  Offas,  and  in  both  cases  the  scene  is  transferred 
to  England.  The  subsequent  adventures  of  the  two  kings 
are  also  somewhat   similar  in  the  two  l)iographies.    Each 


1)  See  Luard,  in  his  edition  of  Mat.  Paris,   Chron.  Maj.  (R.  S.) 
vol.  I,  pp.  XXXII,  LXXX. 

2)  Kemble,  Beowulf,  II,  pp.  XXXI-XXXIV;  Grein  in  Ebert's 
JB.  IV,  pp.  278-285. 

3)  The  subject  of  Uhland's  ballad,  Der  hlinde  Kmiig. 


—     54    — 

of  them  finds  a  banished  princess  and  marries  her.  As 
the  two  stories  are  obviousl}'  parallel,  it  has  been  supposed  ') 
that  the  compiler,  finding  two  histories  of  Offa  wliich  \\v 
was  unable  to  reconcile,  applied  them  to  the  two  kings 
who  bore  the  name.  It  was  of  course  the  first  Offa  of 
whom  these  mythical  adventures  were  originally  told,  but,  as 
I  shall  endeavour  to  show,  the  St  Albans  chronicler  was 
probably  not  the  first  to  fall  into  the  error  of  attaching 
the  saga  to  the  Mercian  king.  On  the  contrary,  there 
are  details  in  both  biographies,  as  also  in  Beowulf,  which 
point  one  to  the  conclusion  that  the  saga  of  the  ancient 
Anglian  hero  was  connected  with  his  more  famous  Mercian 
namesake  at  a  very  early  date,  perhaps  even,  in  a  satirical 
spirit,  by  the  contemporaries  of  the  latter. 

Offa  I,  who  actually  reigned  in  Sleswick  in  the  4tii 
century  2),  appears  in  the  Vita  as  a  king  of  the  W.  Angles 
in  England.  His  father  Warmund  is  called  the  founder 
of  Warwick^).  The  saga  was  doubtless  localised  l)y  the 
inmiigrant  Angles  in  their  new  home.  Part  of  tlu^  17/^/ 
Off'w  7,  which  tells  of  his  relations  with  his  wife,  is,  as 
we  have  said,  the  oldest  known  version  of  the  Constance 
saga,  and  the  best  type  of  ^*.  According  to  the  Vita^  the 
king  neglected  to  perform  a  vow  he  had  made  to  found 
a  monastery  at  8^  Albans"^),  and  his  descendant  Pinercd 
the  son  of  Tuinfreth  ultimately  fultilled  the  obligation.    This 


1)  Grein,  ut  supra^  W.  Miiller  in  (icnnania  I,  p.  433. 

-)  P.  E.  Miiller,  Saxo^  II,  p.  137  f.     (Jrciii,  xit  snpra,  ]).  2S1. 

'•>)  This  shows  that  Wats  and  Sucliier  [Bcaum.  I.  XXVI)  arc 
wrong  in  altering  Angli  occidentales  to  A.  orientales.  1'ln'  W  .  Angles 
entered  Warwickshire  hy  the  Trent  A-alley. 

^)  John  Ross,  or  Rous,  a  15tli  century  Avriter,  repeats  the  story 
of  the  wife  of  Offa  I,  either  from  the  Yita  or  from  a  common 
source.  {Hist.  Reg.  Anglice,  ed.  Hearne,  Oxford  171(5,  p.  60  ff.)  An 
ambiguous  statement  of  his  has  been  taken  to  mean  that  he  saw 
the  story  portrayed  in  tapestry  in  the  abbot's  liall  at  S^  Albans. 
8(j  J).  Ilaiiili.  The  A.  S.  Sagas,  p.  60.  But  cf.  Miiller -Velscliow, 
>'((,/()  II,  p.  l;;ij.  ;ui(l  Siichim-  in  P.  c{-  B.  W.  p.  505. 


—     55     — 

Pinered,  or  rather  Wmfrith,  as  the  name  should  be  read  *), 
was  King  Offa  of  Mercia,  son  of  Thincgferth,  the  subject 
of  the  second  Life.  He  was,  according  to  tradition,  the 
eleventh  lineal  descendant  of  the  elder  Offa.  The  S*  Albans 
writer  saj^s  that  he  obtained  the  name  of  Offa  from  the 
resemblance  of  his  early  fortunes  to  those  of  his  ancestor. 
Of  his  youth,  however,  we  know  very  little.  His  father 
belonged  to  a  younger  branch  of  the  royal  family,  and 
when  a  revolution  had  rendered  the  Mercian  throne  vac- 
ant, the  young  prince  Offa  was  elected  king. 

The  Vita  Off'x  II,  which  is  evidently  derived  from 
various  sources,  mixes  fables  and  valuable  historical  facts 
in  a  singular  manner.  After  telling  of  his  youth  and 
accession  it  continues  (Matt.  Paris,  Historia  Major  &c.  ed. 
Wm.  Wats-),  Lond.  1684,  p.  971)  ''Diebus  itaque  sub  eisdeni, 
regnante  in  Francia  Carolo  rege  magno  ac  victoriosissimo, 
qujDdam  puella,  facie  venusta,  sed  mente  nimis  inhonesta, 
ipsi  regi  consan guinea,  pro  quodam  quod  patraverat  crimine 
tlagitiosissimo,  addicta  est  judicialiter  morti  ignominiosa3, 
verum  ob  regia)  dignitatis  reverentiam,  igni  vel  ferro  trad- 
enda  non  judicatur,  sed  in  navicula  armamentis  carente 
apposita,  victu  tenui,  ventis  et  mari  eorumque  ambiguis 
casibus  exponitur  condemnata.  Quie  diu  variis  procellis 
exagitata,  tandem  fortuna  trahente  litori  Britonum  est 
appulsa,  et  cum  in  terra  subjecta  potestati  regis  Offa) 
memorata  cimba  applicuisset,  conspectui  regis  protinus 
pra3scntatur.  Interrogata  autem  qu£enam  esset,  respondens, 
patria  lingua  aftirmavit  'se  Carolo  regi  Francorum  fuisse 
consanguinitate  propinquam,  Dridamque  nominatam,  sed 
per  tyrannidem  ouorundam  ignobilium  (quorum  nuptias, 
ne  degeneraret,  sprevit)  tali  fuisse  discrimini  adjudicatam,' 
abortisque  lachrymis  addidit  dicens,  'Deus  autem  qui 
innocentes  a  laqueis  insidiantium  liberat,  me  captivam  ad 
alas  tua3  protectionis,  o  regum  serenissime,  feliciter  trans- 


*)  See  Lappenberg,  Engl.  tr.  II,  p.  227,  and  Thorpe's  note. 
2)  The  Vita  Offm  II  does   not   appear   to   have   been  printed 
since  Wats's  edition. 


—     56     — 

misit,  ut  meum  infortunium  in  auspicium  fortunatum  trans- 
nuitetur,  et  beatior  in  cxilio  quam  in  natali  patria  ab 
omni  prsodicer  posteritate/ 

"Rex  autem,  verborum  suorum  ornatuni  et  elo(iuentiani. 
et  corporis  puellaris  cultum  et  elegantiani  pendens,  motus 
pietate,  pni^cepit,  ut  ad  comitissam  Marcellinani  niatreni 
suam  tutius  duceretur  alenda,  ac  mitius  sub  tani  honesta^ 
matrona)  custodia,  donee  regium  mandatum  audiret,  con- 
fovenda.  Puella?  igitur  infra  paucos  dies,  macie  et  pallore 
per  alimenta  depulsis,  rediit  decor  pristinus,  ita  ut  mulierum 
pulcberrima  censeretur.  Sed  cito  ad  verba  jactantia)  et 
elationis  (secundum  patria3  suse  consuetudinem)  prorumpens, 
dominee  suse  comitissa',  qua^.  materno  affectu  earn  dulciter 
educaverat,  molesta  nimis  fuit,  ipsani  procaciter  contem- 
nendo.  Sed  comitissa,  pro  amore  filii  sui  regis,  omnia 
patienter  toleravit:  licet  et  ipsa  dicta  puella,  inter  comitem 
et  comitissam  verba  discordia)  seminasset.  Una  igitur 
dierum,  cum  rex  ipsam  causa  visitationis  adieus,  verbis 
consolatoriis  alloqueretur,  incidit  in  retia  amoris  illius; 
erat  enim  jam  species  illius  concupiscibilis.  Clandestino 
igitur  ac  repentino  matrimonio  ipsam  sibi,  inconsultis  patre 
et  matre  necnon  et  magnatibus  suis  universis,  copulavit. 
Unde  uterque  parentum,  dolore  ac  ticdio  in  a^tate  senili 
contabescens,  dies  vita?  abbreviando,  sua)  mortis  horam 
lugubriter  anticiparunt;  sciebant  enim  ipsam  mulierculam 
fuisse  regalibus  amplexibus  prorsus  indignam;  perpendebant- 
que  jamjam  veracissime,  non  sine  causa  exilio  lachrymabili, 
ipsam,  ut  pn^dictum  est,  fuisse  condemnatam  .  .  . 

"Exregina  igitur  uxore  sua  (qua)  se  Petronillam  nomin- 
avit)  prolem  suscepit  sexus  infra  biennium  utrius(iue, 
iiliumque  suum   primogenitum  Egfridum  jussit  nominari." 

Then  follow  certain  political  intrigues  of  a  historical 
character;  which  will  be  discussed  presentl}'.  The  other 
English  kings,  jealous  of  Offa's  power,  apply  to  Charle- 
magne, who  promises  his  aid,  and  threatens  Offa.  Jaen- 
berht  or  lambert  (the  text  has  Lamhmius)  archbishop  of 
Canterbury   having   sought   to   betray  his  country  to  the 


—    57     — 

Franks,  the  Mercian  see  of  Lichfield  is  raised  to  metro- 
politan rank  as  a  counterpoise  to  Canterbury,  and  Hyge- 
berht  (in  the  textHumbertns^)),Of(siS  chaplain  and  confessor, 
becomes  Mercian  archbishop.  The  kings  of  Wessex  and 
Northumbria-)  marry  daughters  of  Offa.  "Cumque  (p.  980) 
Humbertus  archiepiscopus  Lichfeldensis,  et  Unwona  epi- 
scopus  Legrecestrensis,  viri  sancti  et  discreti,  et  de  nobili 
stirpe  Merciorum  oriundi,  speciales  essent  regis  consiharii, 
et  semper  qua3  honesta  erant  et  justa  atque  utilia  sug- 
gcssissent,  invidebat  eis  regina  uxor  Offa3,  qua^  prius  Drida, 
postca  vero  Quendrida,  id  est  regina  Drida,  quia  regi  ex 
insperato  nupsit,  est  appellata  .  .  .  Mulier  avara  et  sub- 
dola,  superbiens,  eo  quod  ex  stirpe  Caroli  originem  duxerat, 
et  inexorabili  odio  viros  memoratos  persequebatur,  tendens 
eis  muscipulos  muliebres.  Porro  cum  ipsi  reges  supra- 
dictos^)  regi  Offie  in  spiritu  consilii  salubriter  recon- 
ciliassent,  et  ut  eidem  regi  foedere  matrimoniali  specialius 
conjungerentur,  diligenter  et  efficaciter  procurassent,  ipsa 
mulier  facta  eorum  nitebatur  in  irritum  revocare,  nee 
poterat,  quibus  acriter  invidebat.  Ipsas  enim  puellas  filias 
suas,  ultramarinis  alienigenis,  in  regis  supplantationem  et 
regni  Merciorum  perniciem,  credidit  tradidisse  maritandas." 
The  king  of  E.  Anglia  woos  Offa's  third  daughter,  but 
Drida  treacherously  causes  him  to  fall  into  a  pit,  where 
he  is  slain.  To  punish  this  crime  her  husband  (p.  981) 
"eam  jussit  omnibus  vitse  sua?  diebus  inclusam  in  loco 
remotam  secretion  peccata  sua  deplorarc."  Some  years 
later  she  is  attacked  by  robl)ers  and  thrown  into  her  own 
pit,  where  she  perishes. 

This  Quendrida  or  Queen  Drida  is  identified  with  the 
historical  Cynethryth,  wife  of  Offa  of  Mercia.  but  as  Kemble 
and  Grundtvig  have  pointed  out'),  her  story  is  partly 
the    same    as   that  which  is  told  of  the  mythical  Thrytho 


•)  Confused  with  another  bishop,  Berthun. 

2)  The  Vita   confuses   these  proteges  of  Offa  with  their  prede- 
cessors who  plotted  against  him. 

3)  See  below,  p.  75,  n.  3. 


—    58    — 

in  Beowulf.  The  passage  in  Beowulf  will  be  discussed 
presently,  but  we  may  anticipate  so  far  as  to  mention 
that  the  two  accounts  agree  in  the  following  respects.  A 
lady  named  Thrytho  (or  in  Latin  Drida)  is  sent  by  her 
father,  or  some  other  relative,  across  the  sea.  She  marries 
an  Anglian  king  named  Offa.  Her  character  is  haughty 
and  violent.  She  repels  wooers '),  and  seeks  the  ruin  of 
certain  courtiers  or  companions  of  her  husband. 

We  may  here  mention  a  third  tradition.  Walter 
Mapes  in  his  Be  Nugis  Curialium  II,  17  says  of  Offa  of 
Mercia,  "acceperat  sibi  conjugem  filiam  imperatoris  Roman- 
orum  [Cunnani].  Multa  inter  Romanos  et  Anglos  audivimus 
ad  utrorumque  lacrimas  facta  conjugia^),  quorum  hoc 
unum.  Venerant  Komani  frequenter  ad  Offani  ab  im- 
peratore  missi,  ditatique  ab  ipso  recesserant  cum  multa 
laude  regis  et  regni,  quos  ut  Roma  vidit  vestibus  et  auro 
lucidos,  statim  innata  exarsit  avaritia."  The  Romans  per- 
suade Cunnanus  to  invade  England,  but  a  roving  Vandal 
free-lance  named  Gado  arrives  by  divine  guidance  at  the 
critical  moment,  and  by  his  help  Offa  routs  the  Romans  ^). 
The  story  in  the  Vita  Offa?  II,  to  the  effect  that  the 
archbishop  of  Canterl)ury  invited  Charlemagne  to  land 
troops  in  Kent"*),  may  be  compared. 

Lastly,  in  a  remarkable  Italian  version  of  the  Con- 
stance  saga,  VM,    which   is   closely   connected   with    the 

1)  'Nsenig  ^ast  dorste  .  .  .  nefne  sin  froa,  Jiaet  hire  an  daeges 
eagiim  starede.'  Beoiv.  1933—5.  'Ignobilium  .  .  .  nuptias,  no  dc- 
generaret,  sprovit'     Vita  Offos  II. 

-)  Probably  an  allusion  to  the  calamitous  struggle  between 
Stei)hon  and  the  Empress  Matilda. 

^)  T.  Wright  in  the  Camden  Society's  edition  of  De  Ntig.  Cur., 
p.  85  says  the  tale  'appears  to  be  the  abstract  of  some  medieval 
(perhaps  Anglo-Saxon)  romance,  now  lost.'  A  grandson  of  Offa 
is  called  Suanus. 

4)  Ed.  Wats,  p.  978.  There  wore  also  French  legends  of  an 
invasion  of  England  by  Charlemagne.  So  Chanson  de  Roland,  ed. 
(■Jautier,  1.  372  f.  'Vers  Engleterro  passat  il  la  mer  salse,  Ad  oes 
seint  Pierre  en  cunquist  le  chevage.'  Offa  is  the  traditional  founder 
of  Peter's  pence.     See  p.  03. 


—    59     — 

Vita  O/ffF.  J,  the  heroine  is  the  daughter  of  a  king  of 
France,  'at  the  time  that  the  Roman  empire  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  king  of  France'*),  i.  e.  she  is  the  daughter 
of  a  Carolingian  king. 

The  clue  to  these  various  legends,  if  there  is  one, 
must  be  sought  in  the  political  events  of  Offa's  reign. 

(b.)    Cynethrj^th,  Queen  of  Mercia,  in  History. 

It  will  be  necessary  first  to  glance  at  Offa's  dealings 
with  his  neighbours.  The  key  to  the  political  situation  is 
the  conflict  between  Offa's  endeavour  to  unite  England 
under  Mercian  hegemony,  and  the  particularism  of  the 
smaller  kingdoms,  which  was  steadily  fostered  by  the 
Frankish  kings  -).  The  latter  appear  to  have  been  alarmed 
at  the  tendency  towards  political  consolidation  which  was 
showing  itself  in  England.  Pepin  offered  alliance  to 
Eadberht  of  Xortluunbria'^),  who  was  attacked  by  a  pre- 
decessor of  Offa's,  the  pow(^rful  J^^thelbald  of  Mercia.  On 
Pepin  s  death  in  768,  Alchred  of  Northumbria  sent  an 
embassy  to  Charlemagne,  and  became  his  vassaH).  Charle- 
magne also  acquircnl  suzerainty  ov(>r  the  Scottish  kings, 
either  of  Scotland  or  Ireland-'^). 

The  dynastic  struggles  in  Northumbria  are  very  ob- 
scure. Eadberht  and  Alchred,  the  clients  of  the  Franks, 
are  said  to  have  Ijelonged  to  the  old  royal  house.  In  the 
deposition  of  the  latter  king  in  774  in  favour  of  ^Ethelred 


1)  Miracidi  della  glorlosa  verzene,  cap.  XI  (1475),  'Legesi  in  una 
L'crta  cronicha  che  nel  tempo  nel  quale  fu  translatato  el  Romano 
iniperio  al  re  di  Franz  a'  ... 

2)  See  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  3rd  ed.,  I,  j).  569  note  I); 
F.  Palgrave,  The  English  Commonwealth,  1832,  Part  I,  p.  484  ff.;  Haddan 
and  Stubbs,  Councils,  III,  p.  486 if.;  E.  Winkelmann,  Geschichte  der 
Angelsachsen  (=  Oncken's  Allgem.  Gesch.  11,3),  1883,  pp.  121—123. 

3)  Sim.  Dunelm.,  Hist.  Dun.  11,3. 

4)  Einhard,  Annales,  snb.  ami.  808. 

s)  Einhard,  Vita  KaroU,  cap.  18.  Followed  by  Poeta  Sa^xo, 
V,  177.  There  is  a  tradition  of  an  alliance  between  Cliarles  and 
an  Achaiiis  of  Scotland  (Palgrave,  I,  p.  484). 


—    60    — 

we  may  perhaps  see  the  result  of  an  intrigue  of  Off  a,  who 
had  just  annexed  Essex  and  Kent.  Like  his  father  ^Ethel- 
wald,  who  had  been  set  on  the  throne  in  759,  J^thelred 
S(^enis  to  have  been  a  usurper.  He  afterwards  became 
Offa's  son-in-law.  The  Northumbrians  deposed  him  in 
778/9,  when  Offa  was  engaged  in  wars  elsewhere,  and 
they  placed  a  grandson  of  Pepin's  client  Eadberht  on  the 
throne. 

In  spite  of  their  rivalry  in  Northumbria  and  other 
kingdoms,  Offa's  relations  with  Charlemagne  remained  out- 
wardly friendly  for  the  first  thirty  years  of  his  reign,  which 
began  in  757.  There  was  a  rumour,  about  783.  strenuously 
denied  by  Charles,  that  the  two  kings  had  been  plotting 
to  depose  the  Pope,  Adrian  I  *),  with  wliom  Charles  had 
a  quarrel.  In  786  Charles  and  Adrian  sent  embassies  to 
England.  They  not  only  conferred  with  Offa,  but  with  his 
old  enemy  Cynewulf  of  Wessex.  Within  the  year  the 
latter  was  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  people,  and  Brihtric 
usurped  the  throne  ^).  Ecgberht,  the  rightful  heir  to  Wessex, 
who  claimed  also  the  crown  of  Kent,  appealed  in  vain  to 
Offa,  and  fled  over  sea  to  the  court  of  Charles.  In  the 
mean  time  a  legatine  synod  was  held  at  Cealchyth.  Offa 
prevailed  upon  Adrian,  it  is  said  by  an  immense  bribe, 
to  grant  the  pallium  to  Hygeberht,  bishop  of  Lichfield. 
The  political  significance  of  this  act  is  clear.  A  large 
part  of  Offa's  kingdom  was  under  the  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction of  Canterbury,  the  capital  of  a  conquered  kingdom, 
where  Prankish  agents  w^ere  secretly  fomenting  rebelKon, 
So  long  as  Canterbury  was  the  ecclesiastical  metropolis 
of  i\Iercia,  Offa  s  scheme  of  a  Mercian  England  was  fore- 
doomed to  failure.  The  danger  had  already  been  mani- 
fested, if  we  may  believe  tlie  Vita  Offce  II.  Kentish  rebels 
had  appealed  to  Charles,   who  had  replied  l)y  threatening 


1)  Codex  Carolmiis   92,   in   M.  G.  H.  Ill,   Merow.  &  Karol,  Aevi 
1,  p.  629. 

-)  lie  afterwards  married  a  daugfhter  of  Offa's. 


—     61     — 

Offa.  He  however  crushed  the  rising.  Jaen})erlit  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  is  said  to  have  gone  so  far  as 
to  invite  Charles  to  land  Frankish  forces  in  Kent  *).  Offa, 
we  are  told,  on  discovering  the  plot,  drove  him  into  exile, 
and  set  up  the  rival  archl)ishopric  of  Lichfield.  We  know 
that  Charlemagne  was  not  pleased  with  this  innovation, 
for  after  Offa's  death  he  supported  the  request  of  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  for  its  abolition. 

Offa  continued  to  strengthen  his  position.  He  bound 
Brihtric,  the  usurper  of  Wessex,  more  closely  to  his  in- 
terests by  giving  him  to  wife  his  daughter  Eadburga  in 
789.  A  new  revolution  in  Northumbria  set  ^thelred  once 
more  on  the  throne  in  790,  and  he  at  once  put  to  death 
two  princes  of  the  rival  dynasty,  grandsons  of  Pepin's 
ally,  and  sought  to  kill  a  certain  Eardwulf^),  who  at  a 
later  date,  when  king  of  Northumbria,  was  forced  to  fly, 
and  took  refuge  at  Clnirlem ague's  court  in  803.  .'Ethelred 
thus  appears  for  the  thiixl  time  as  an  opponent  of  the 
Frankish  party.  In  792,  a  year  after  these  acts,  he  married 
a  daughter  of  Offa's  named  ^Elffhied. 

Offa's  interference  in  Kent,  in  Wessex,  and  probably 
in  Northumbria,  gradually  ali(^.nated  Charlemagne.  The 
hitter,  it  appears,  had  made  an  attempt  to  secure  Offa's 
alliance  by  demanduig  the  hand  of  one  of  his  daughters 
for  his  son  Charles.  Offa's  conditions  are  said  to  have  ex- 
asperated  the   Frankish   kiiig-^).     The   two   rulers   closed 

1)  Vita  Off'ce  11,  ed.  Wats,  p.  978.  J.  R.  Green  (Short  Hist.  1885, 
p.  40  f.)  accepts  IJie  story  without  hesitation.  If  Jaenberht  x)lotted 
before  the  creation  of  the  Lichfield  archbishopric,  his  exile  cannot 
have  lasted  very  long,  for  already  in  789  we  find  him  witnessing 
three  charters  together  with  his  rival  of  Lichfield  (Kemble  155—7, 
Birch  255-7). 

-)  Sim.  Dunelm,  Hist.  Regum,  R.  S.  §  55,  p.  52,  ann.  790. 

•")  Gesta  Abbat.  Fontanell.  cap.  16,  in  M.  G.  H.  II,  p.  291.  Tliero 
is  excellent  authority  for  this  story.  Gerwold  abbot  of  Fontanelle 
(S.  Wandrille),  who  was  a  collector  of  customs  on  the  N.  Frencli 
coast,  exchanged  letters  with  Offa,  and  ultimately  procured  the 
reopening  of  the  ports.  Winkelmann  {nt  supra)  p.  122;  F.  Dahn, 
Urgeschichfe  {=  Oncken  IT,  2)  ITI,  p.  1020. 


—     62     — 

their  ports  against  oacli  other's  subjects  in  790,  and  no- 
thing but  the  (liploniacy  of  Alcuin,  wlio  was  on  a  political 
mission  in  England  from  790  to  793,  averted  war  ^).  Alcuin 
was  specially  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  Northumbria. 
After  his  return  to  the  continent  he  wiites  that  he  does 
not  wish  for  strife,  and  has  never  been  unfaithful  to  Offa 
or  the  English 2).  The  situation  was  therefore  still  critical 
in  793.  Alcuin's  language  seems  to  employ  that  he  re- 
garded Olfa's  cause  as  in  a  broad  sense  national. 

The  next  year  the  only  English  kingdom  where  Offa 
had  not  yet  gained  a  footing  fell  into  his  hands.  The 
circumstances  are  somew^hat  mysterious.  S^  ^thelberht, 
king  of  E.  Anglia,  is  said  to  have  demanded  the  hand  of 
Offas  daughter  J^Clfthryth.  Offa  however  treacherously 
slew  him,  and  seized  his  kingdom  (Wm.  Malm.  Gest.  Reg. 
§  86).  According  to  Florence  of  Worcester  (1, 62),  and 
Eichard  of  Cirencester  {Spec.  Hist.  I,  262  ff.),  Offa  was 
instigat(Hl  to  the  nunxler  by  his  wife  Cynethryth.  Two 
8i  Albans  writers  {Viia  Offw  II,  p.  980  f.,  followed  by 
Mat.  Paris,  Chron.  Maj.  R.  8.  I,  p.  354  ff.),  who  may  be 
suspected  •"')  of  a  desire  to  exculpate  their  great  benefactor, 
attribute  J^thelberht's  death  to  Cynethryth  alone.  He 
falls  into  a  pit  which  she  has  prepared  for  him.  After- 
wards robbers  kill  her,  and  throw  her  body  into  her  own 
pit.  This  poetic  justice  bears  the  stamp  of  liction-*)  (cf. 
Psalm  VII,  15,  16).    There   is   little    doubt   that  the    act, 


1)  Cf.  Dummler  {M.  G.  H.)  Ale.  Epp.  7. 

2)  Diimmler,  Ale.  Epp.  82.  Tlie  date  of  this  letter  shows  that, 
unless  it  refers  to  a  fresh  dispute,  Winkelmann  {Gesch.  der  A.  S:,  p.  122) 
is  mistaken  in  thinking  that  the  quarrel  was  OA'er  in  790.  Also 
Charles's  letter  relating  to  the  iugitives  {Ale.  Epp.  85),  which  W. 
connects  with  the  same  quarrel,  was  not  written  before  July  793. 

3)  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  s.  v.  Ethelbert. 

4)  The  miracle -loving  Bromton  (ed.  Twysden  and  Seldcn, 
Hist.  Angl.  Scripfores  X,  1G52,  col.  752)  tells  tliat  after  tlie  murder 
yElfthryth  propJiesied  that  lier  mother  would  be  carried  off  by 
devils,  and  would  bite  out  her  own  tongue,  and  die  witliin  three 
montljs,  all  of  which  happened. 


—     63     - 

whatever  its  motive,  was  Offa's,  and  that  Cynethrjth  was 
at  least  commonly  believed  to  have  incited  him  to  it. 

How  long  the  quarrel  with  Charlemagne  lasted  is  not 
known.  At  some  date  between  July  793  and  Offa  s  death 
in  796,  there  were  Mercian  conspirators  in  the  Frankish 
dominions,  who  had  fled  from  England  for  their  lives. 
Charles  asked  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  bishop 
of  Lindsey  to  intercede  with  Offa  for  these  fugitives*). 
According  to  a  tradition,  which  may  well  be  correct,  Offa 
visited  Rome  shortly  hefore  his  death,  either  to  do  penance 
for  the  murder  of  JEthelberht^),  or  to  secure  privileges 
for  his  abbey  of  S^  Albans  "O-  If  he  went  to  Rome  for  the 
former  reason,  he  must  have  done  so  in  794  or  795.  The 
Pope  Adrian  I  was  now  on  very  friendl}'  terms  with  Charle- 
magne. Possibly  he  brought  about  a  reconciliation  on  this 
occasion.  Two  letters  writt(Mi  respectively  by  Charlemagne 
and  his  minister  Alcuin  to  Offa  early  in  796  may  be 
thought  to  imply  that  friendly  relations  had  (piite  recently 
])een  established.  Alcuin  assures  Offa  that  Charles  is 
grieved  at  the  murder  of  the  former's  son-in-law  J^]thelred 
of  Northumbria,  and  is  a  sincere  friend  of  Offa*).  Charle- 
magn(^'s  language  is  still  more  decided''*).  Addressing 
Offa  as  his  'dearest  brother',  he  thanks  God  for  liis  ortho- 
doxy,  promises  privileges  for  Enghsh  pilgrims  who  go  to 


^)  Diimmler,  Ale.  Epp.  85.  Cf.  the  conciliatory  letter  (Diim. 
100)  which  Charles  wrote  to  Offa  in  796,  announcing  that  he  had 
sent  some  English  ecclesiastical  fugitives  for  trial  to  Rome,  wliero 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  then  was. 

2)  Bromton,  Chron.,  ut  supra,  col.  754. 

"')  Vit.  Off.  II,  p.  985,  followed  by  M.  Paris  Chron.  Maj.  T,  358  ff.; 
Gesta  Abb.  S.  Albmii  1, 45.  Offa's  request  to  Charles  for  black 
marble  in  796  (Diim.  Ale.  Epp.  100)  suggesls  that  he  may  have  seen 
such  during  his  alleged  pilgrimage.  l.ai)penberg  (I,  p.  230,  Engl, 
tr.  II,  p.  236)  thinks  the  pilgrimage  not  im])rohable. 

4)  Diimmler,  Ale.  Epp.  101. 

&)  Ibid.  100. 


—     64     — 

Rome  *),  and  protection  for  English  mordiants,  and  requests 
the  prayers  of  Offa  and  the  English  for  the  soul  of  the 
deceased  Pope  Adrian.  The  letter  was  accompanied  by 
Hunnish  spoils,  and  other  valuable  gifts.  Very  soon  after, 
in  July  796,  Offa  died. 

The  quarrel  then,  which  had  been  long  smouldering, 
reached  an  acute  stage  in  790,  was  certainly  not  over 
before  793,  and  probably  not  until  a  few  months  before 
Offa's  death. 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  traditions  about  Cynethryth, 
and  examine  them  in  the  light  of  Mercian  history.  The 
latter  part  of  the  Vita  Offce  II,  which  is  of  a  more  sober 
character  than  the  pages  describing  the  king's  earlier  ad- 
ventures, states  (above,  p.  56  f.)  that  Quendrida  incmTcd 
obloquy  by  her  political  intrigues,  and  in  particular  that 
(a)  the  special  objects  of  her  hatred  w^ere  Offa's  chief 
advisers,  the  Mercians  Hygeberht,  archbishop  ofLichfiekl, 
and  Unwona  bishop  of  Leicester,  and  that  (b.)  she  tried 
to  prevent  the  marriages  of  her  daughters  with  their  royal 
suitors,  and  wished  that  their  hands  might  be  bestowed 
on  foreigners,  so  that  her  husband  might  be  supplanted, 
and  his  kingdom  ruined. 

The  evidence  of  the  charters  appears  to  throw  some 
light  on  these  statements.  The  following  table  shows  that 
at  certain  periods  Cynethryth's  name  accompanies  Offa's 
in  the  charters,  while  at  other  periods  it  is  absent 2). 


*)  According  to  the  Vita  Ojfce  II,  p.  985,  Offa  endowed  nn 
English  hostel  at  Rome  during  his  visit  to  that  city. 

2)  I  have  here  followed  Birch's  Cartularium  Saxonicum,  which 
is  far  more  complete  tlian  Kemble,  although  no  distinction  is  made 
between  charters  which  are  supposed  to  be  genuine,  and  those 
which  are  called  in  question.  Birch  however  considers  many 
which  Kemble  has  marked  as  doubtful  to  be  genuine.  If  only 
those  which  Ihe  latter  accepts  be  counted,  tlie  general  result  will 
be  the  same.  I  have  omitted  certain  charters  which  liave  lost  tlie 
list  of  signatures,  and  otiiers  which  cannot  be  even  approxim- 
ately dated. 


~     65 


A.  D. 

Of. 

Of.&Cy.  A.  D. 

1 

Of. 

Of.&Cy. 

A.  D. 

Of. 

Of.&Cy. 

757—69 

6 

_ 

1 
|777 

2 

1 

786 

1 

1 

770 

2 

2 

|778,  9 

4 

— 

787 

2 

1 

771 

— 

— 

780 

4 

4 

788 

2 

1 

772 

3 

1 

781 

2 

2 

789 

3 

— 

773 

— 

— 

;  782,  3 

— 

— 

790 

1 

1 

774 

3 

3 

^784 

1 

1 

791—6 

8 



775,  6 

— 

— 

'785 

2 

2 

From  780  to  788,  it  will  be  seen,  Cynetliryth's  name 
is  only  lacking  twice  in  a  total  of  14  charters.  In  the 
remaining  8  years  of  the  reign,  however,  out  of  12  charters, 
only  one  bears  her  name,  which  does  not  occm^  at  all  in 
the  last  6  years.  The  absence  of  the  queen's  name  in 
these  last  years  might  indeed  be  accounted  for  by  the 
supposition  that  she  died  in  or  soon  after  790,  were  there 
no  evidence  that  slie  survived  her  husband.  Though  this 
cannot  be  conclusively  proved,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree 
probable.  Xot  only  is  Cynethryth  traditionally  associated 
with  the  nuirder  of  JEthelberht  in  794,  but  in  798  ^thel- 
lieard,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  allowed  a  certain  Cyne- 
(liitha,  abbess  of  Cookham,  to  retain  the  abbey,  which  Offa 
had  unjustly  seized  and  left  to  his  heirs,  but  she  agreed 
to  give  up  certain  lands  in  Kent  which  had  come  into  her 
])ossession  in  the  same  irregular  way.  The  charter  (Kemble 
1019,  Birch  291)  is  admitted  to  be  genuine,  ])oth  l)y  Kemble 
and  Stubbs,  but  the  latter  is  uncertain  whether  this  ab])ess 
was  Offa's  widow,  or  his  great-niece  of  the  same  name, 
the  daughter  of  Coenwulf,  the  reigning  king  of  Mercia. 
Tb(^.  latter  suggestion  seems  extremely  improbable  ^). 


1)  Cf.  Stubbs,  in  Diet.  Christ.  Biog.,  s.  v.  Kenethrytha,  also  Haddan 
and  Stubbs,  Councils^  III,  p.  512.  Coenwnlfs  daughter  Cynetlirylli 
umst;  have  been  quite  young-  in  798,  at  least  if  she  had  the  same 
mother  as  lier  brother  Kenelm,  for  he  was  not  born  till  814.  The 
archbishop  says  of  the  estates  in  Kent  'quas  scilicet  terras  olim 
rex  Offa  sibi  viventi  conscribere  fecit,  suisque  haeredibus  post 
Palaestra  XXm.  5 


—     66     — 

There  are  two  charters  of  796  (Kemble  172,  178; 
Birch  280,  281)  ascribed  to  Ecgferth,  which  l)ear  the  name 
of  'Cyne'<5ry^  regina\  and  one  of  798  (Kemble  1017,  Birch 
285)  ascribed  to  Coenwulf  and  witnessed  hy  Kynedryp 
abbess  of  GLastonbury,  but  these  are  doubtful. 

Alcuin  in  his  above  mentioned  letter  to  Offa  {Ep.  101, 
Dtim.)  writes  a  few  weeks  before  the  latter's  death,  'Sal- 
uta  quoqiie  illam  dominam  et  dispensatricem  domiis  regice. 
Vivat  ilia  felix  et  in  prole  paternce  heatitudinis  gaudens.^ 
The  last  words  seem  to  mean,  'May  she  rejoice  in  her 
children  who  are  a  blessing  to  their  father',  language 
which  would  be  appropriate  if  Cynethryth  be  the  lady 
alluded  to  *),  seeing  that  her  son  was  Offa's  coregent,  and 
two  of  her  daughters  had  married  his  alHes.  We  know 
from  other  letters  of  Alcuin's  (61,  62)  that  he  was  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  Cynethryth,  and  that  he  esteemed 
her  highly. 

The  last  charter  of  Offa's  which  Cynethryth  is  known 
to  have  witnessed  was  the  confirmation  on  the  12tii  of 
April  790  of  a  gift  of  land  near  London  to  the  Abbey  of 
St  Denis  near  Paris,  which  is  well  known  to  have  enjoyed 
the  special  patronage  of  Charlemagne*^)  (Bh'ch,  259).  Tlu^ 
names  of  Unwona  and  Hygeberht  also  appear  on  this 
document.  It  was  probably  signed  before  the  closing  of 
the  harbours  in  the  same  year.  With  this  exception,  the 
last  known  charter  of  Offa's  that  Cynethryth  signed  was 
in  788  (Kemble  152,  Birch  253).  It  is  the  first  signed  by 
Hygeberht  as  archbishop  of  Lichfield.  His  name  appears 
regularly  on  Offa's  charters  from  781,  and  Unwona's  name 
from  785. 


eum.'  How  Coenwulf  s  daughter  can  be  supposed  to  have  inherited 
this  j^roperty  from  Offa  during  her  father's  lifetime,  not  to  say 
surrendered  it,  I  do  not  understand. 

1)  This  is  the  view  of  Jaff^,  quoted  by  Diimmler,  M.  G.H.  Kpp. 
IV,  p.  148. 

2)  In  the  same  year,  and  doubtless  before  the  blockade,  the 
enldorman  of  Sussex  leased  the  liarbours  of  Hastings  and  Pevens(>y 
to   the   same  abbey.     Winkelmann,  Gesch.  der  Angelsachsm^  p.  122. 


—     67     — 

We  find  then  that  Cynethryth  disappears  in  788,  the 
year  in  which  Hygeberht  received  the  paUiiim.  This  was 
precisely  the  critical  period  in  Offa's  reign,  when  his  in- 
(lependant  and  aggressive  policy  began  to  create  a  breach 
between  him  and  Charles.  Cynethryth  reappears  for  a 
moment  in  790  to  witness  the  conferring  of  a  favour  on 
Charles's  abbey  of  S*  Denis.  Immediately  after  this  the 
quarrel  ])etween  the  t\vo  kings  breaks  out,  and  with  the 
doubtful  l)ut  significant  exception  of  S^  ^thelberht's  murder, 
we  hear  no  more  of  Cynethryth  until  the  spring  of  796, 
when  Charles  and  Offa  are  fully  reconciled.  She  is  then, 
it  appears,  peacefully  presiding  over  her  husband's  house- 
hold. 

We  have  seen  that  Cynethryth's  traditional  enemies, 
her  sons-in-law  ^thelred  of  Northumbria  and  Brihtric  of 
Wessex  *),  and  her  husband's  chief  adviser  Hygeberht,  are 
Charlemagncrs  enemies.  Their  rivals,  Eardwulf,  Ecgberht 
and  Jaenberht,  fiy  to  Charlemagne's  court,  or  carry  on 
intrigues  with  him. 

It  is  clear  from  all  this  that  Cynethryth  took  an  active 
part  in  pohtics,  and  that  she  sided  with  the  Frankish 
party.  A  wife  who  could  syst(Mnatically  thwart  her  hus- 
band's ambitions,  and  a  mother  who  could  repulse  her 
daughters'  royal  suitors,  as  she  is  alleged  to  have  don(% 
nuist  have  been  dominated  by  a  strong  motive.  If  she 
belonged  to  one  of  the  disinherited  houses  of  Northumbria, 
Wessex,  or  Kent,  her  conduct  would  perhaps  not  be  un- 
natural. 

The  Vita  Offce  11^  it  will  be  remembered,  asserts  that 
she  was    of  the  Frankish  royal  house,  a  relative  {consan- 


1)  Asser  relates  on  the  authority  of  persons  who  had  known 
her,  that  Cynethryth's  daughter  Eadburga,  after  accidentally  pois- 
oning" her  husband  Brihtric,  with  whom  she  had  lived  at  enmity, 
lied  on  account  of  the  odium  she  had  excited  in  Wessex  to  Charle- 
magne, who  jestingly  asked  whether  she  wald  marry  him  or  his 
son.  It  has  been  thought  she  was  that  daughter  of  Offa  whom 
Charles  had  demanded  for  his  son.     See  below,  p.  72  n.  3. 

6* 


—     68     — 

guinea)  of  Cliarleniagne  himself.  The  statement  in  itself 
seems  highly  improbable,  but  is  worth  investigation.  It 
agrees,  as  has  been  shown,  with  a  story  told  by  Walter 
Mapes,  and  with  the  Italian  legend  VM.  Charles  of  course 
did  not  assume  the  imperial  title  till  after  Offa's  death, 
but  he  had  long  been  virtually  Eoman  emperor,  and  the 
mistake  is  one  which  might  very  naturally  have  arisen 
later.  In  Mapes's  story  there  is  an  evident  reference 
(quoted  above,  p.  58)  to  the  diplomatic  relations  between 
the  two  kings.  It  is  impossible  to  explain  the  name  Cun- 
nanus,  which  I  can  find  nowhere  else  recorded.  That  the 
MS.  reading  is  sound  is  proved  by  an  obscene  pun  upon 
the  name,  which  Mapes  quotes  ^).  The  only  Carolingian 
name  even  remotely  resembling  it  is  Carlomannus.  The 
elder  Carloman,  mayor  of  Austrasia,  was  of  the  right  age 
to  be  Cynethryth's  father  2).  He  retired  into  a  monastery 
in  the  prime  of  life  in  747.  He  had  more  than  one  son, 
but  with  the  exception  of  Drogo  his  eldest  son,  the  names 
of  none  of  his  children  are  recorded. 

The  name  Cyneihryth,  which  was  not  unconnnon  in 
England,  occurs  also  on  the  Continent.  The  Alemannic 
equivalent  Chunidrud  appears  in  a  list  of  names  taken 
by  Goldast  from  an  ancient  MS.  in  the  monaster}^  of 
St  Gall  ^).    The    second    element   in  the  name  occurs  with 

1)  'Domnus  Cunnanus  nihil  est  nisi  cunnus  et  anus.' 

2)  Cynethryth  had  two  children  living-  in  770,  in  which  j-ear 
her  name  and  theirs  are  recorded  for  the  first  time  (Birch,  203, 
204).  Of  these  children,  one,  Ecgferth,  was  crowned  as  Offa's 
coadjutor  18  years  later,  and  the  other,  yl^lfflanl,  was  married 
22  years  later.  Another  daughter,  Eadburga,  was  married  19  years 
later.  Cynethryth's  marriage  may  therefore  have  taken  place  about 
768,  and  she  may  have  been  born  c.  742—762.  It  was  in  768  that 
Charles  and  Carloman  TI  succeeded  Pei)in,  and  probably  in  iho 
same  year  tliat  the  king  of  Northumbria  sent  an  embassy  to 
Mayence,  and  became  Charles's  vassal. 

3)  Goldast,  Rer.  Alem.  Scr.,  3id  ©d.,  Francf.  1730,  II.  a,  121.  Cf. 
Wartmann,  Urkundenbuchj  and  Forstemann,  ^Hdeutsches  Namm- 
huch  I,  p.  313.  The  latter  gives  also  Chimidnit^  who  however  was 
an  Englishwoman,  and  accompanied  S<;  Boniface  to  Germany. 


—    69     — 

remarkable  frequency  in  the  family  of  Charles  Martel. 
His  fatlier  had  a  wife  Plectrud  and  a  daughter  Getirud. 
His  own  wife,  the  mother  of  Carloman  and  Pepin,  was 
Chrotrud,  his  daughter  was  Chiltrud.  Charlemagne  had 
daughters  named  Chrotrud,  Chiltrud^  Adeltrud,  and  Eich- 
trud  *).  Cynethryth  herself  had  a  daughter  uElfthryth^  and 
a  grand-niece  Cynethryth. 

The  following  coincidence  is  more  striking.  According 
to  the  Vita  Offce  II  (j).  971),  Cynethryth  was  also  called 
Petronilla.  The  saint  of  this  name,  a  legendary  daughter 
of  H^  Peter,  was  especially  venerated  by  the  Carohngian 
princes.  Pope  Stephen  H  began  the  work  of  transforming 
tlie  mausoleum  of  the  Christian  emperors  in  the  Vatican 
into  a  chapel  of  S^  Petronilla.  On  his  death  in  757  his 
brother  and  successor  Paul  I  finished  the  work,  and  in 
the  same  year  translated  the  sarcophagus  of  the  saint  to 
the  new  chapel.  "This  was  done  in  fulfilment  of  a  pro- 
mise made  by  the  pope's  brother  and  predecessor  Stephen  11 
to  Pippin  king  of  the  Franks,  on  his  visit  to  liis  court, 
as  a  token  and  pledge  of  the  alliance  between  the  papacy 
and  the  Franks  against  the  Lombards.  ...  S*  Peter 
being  specially  honoured  by  the  Franks,  and  being  their 
patron  saint  (Epp.  Steph.  H.  IV.  V.  in  Cod.  Carol,  in  Pair. 
Lat  XCYin,  101,  102),  Petronilla  naturally  shared  in  the 
veneration  paid  to  her  reputed  father,  and  is  in  fact  styled 
by  Paul  I.  the  auxiliatrix  of  Pippin  {Epp.  Pauli  I.  XIII 
in  Cod.  Carol,  in  Patr.  Lat.  XCVIII,  150)  .  .  .  There  her 
body  remained,  the  chapel  being  considered  to  belong  in 
an  especial  manner  to  the  kings  of  France  ...  To  the 
present  day  the  French  ambassador,  after  presenting  his 
credentials  to  the  pope,  visits  the  chapel  of  S*  Petronilla-)." 


1)  Reg.  Franc.  Geneal.,  in  M.  G.  H.  II,  312;  Einhard,  Yit.  KaroL, 
in  M.  G.  H.  II,  453;  Alcuin  in  Migne,  I,  p.  50. 

2)  From  F.  H.  Daniell's  article  on  Petronilla,  in  Smith  and 
Wace's  Did.  Christ.  Biog.  See  also  Liber  Pontif.  in  Patr.  Lat.  CXXVIII, 
1139;  Gregorovius,, 6?esc/i.  der  Stadt  Rom,  1886,  II,  307—309;  Guett^e, 
Hi9t.  de  rrglise  de  France,  1848,  ITT,  52. 


—     70     — 

The  two  Popes  were  iiitimatel}'  associated  with  Pepin 
an  his  brother  Carloman.  Pepin  wished  Pope  Paul  I  to 
be  sponsor  to  his  daughter  Gisela,  whose  chrism  he  sent 
by  the  hand  of  the  abbot  of  St  Martin's  at  Tours.  Paul 
deposited  it  with  great  pomp  in  the  new  chapel,  and 
dedicated  an  altar  to  the  saint  to  commemorate  Pepin's 
piety*).  In  755,  two  years  before  the  completion  of 
S<^^  Petronilla's  chapel,  Carloman  had  died  a  monk.  His 
sons  had  been  placed  in  a  monastery  in  754.  If  he  also 
left  a  daughter  or  ward,  no  more  appropriate  religious 
name  could  have  been  found  for  her  than  Petronilla.  In 
*HC,  a  group  derived  in  part  from  the  Offa  type  *;9,  the 
heroine  lives  in  a  convent  before  her  marriage  (p.  27,  no.  85). 

According  to  the  same  group  *HC,  the  Pope  is  be- 
sieged in  Rome  by  the  Saracens,  and  appeals  to  the 
heroine's  husband  and  father  for  help  (nos.  90,  91).  Now 
in  756  the  Lombards  besieged  Rome,  and  Pope  Stephen  II 
appealed  to  Pepin,  and  to  the  Greek  Emperor  Con- 
stantine  V,  to  rescue  him. 

Finally  it  may  be  mentioned,  though  the  fact  is  of 
no  great  significance,  that  Charlemagne  repeatedly  addresses 
Offa  as  his  'dearest  brother' 2). 

The  chief  objection  to  the  hypothesis  of  Cynethryth's 
Carolingian  origin  is  the  silence  of  the  older  authorities, 
both  English  and  Prankish.  The  statement  is  not  made 
until  the  12th  century,  when  it  appears  in  two  fabulous 
or  half-fabulous  stories  {Mapes,  and  Vita  Offcc  II).  'But 
the  argument  from  silence  is  not  conclusive.  The  A.  S. 
Chron.  does  not  mention  Cynethryth  at  all.  The  absence 
of  any  reference  to  her  in  Prankish  autliors  might  be 
accounted  for  if  she  was  a  member  of  some  collateral 
branch  of  the  Carolingian  house. 


1)  See  Paul's  letter  lo  Pepin,  mentioned  in  the  above  quotation. 

2)  Dummler,  Ale.  Epp.  85,  87,  100.  Offa  is  'frater  carissimuti', 
'cl'dectus  frater\  But  Charles  also  addresses  two  Greek  emperors 
with  the  words  'fratemitas',  Ulilectus  frater'  (M.  G.  H.  Epp.  IV,  Karol 
Aev.  TT,  pp.  546,  556). 


—     71     — 

Possibh^  then,  Pepin,  shortly  before  his  death,  or 
Charles,  immediately  after  his  accession  in  768,  took  some 
obscure  relative  from  the  cloister,  and  sent  her  to  England 
to  attach  Offa,  the  most  powerful  of  the  English  princes, 
to  the  Prankish  interest^).  After  the  marriage,  it  may 
be  supposed,  she  steadily  kept  her  political  mission  in 
view,  in  spite  of  the  growing  hostility  of  the  two  kings, 
thereby  incurring  much  hatred  in  Mercia,  and  perhaps 
temporary  banishment  by  her  husband-).  If  the  tradition 
of  Offa's  pilgrimage  to  Rome  is  true,  she  may  have  become 
reconciled  on  that  occasion,  as  happens  in  the  saga. 

The  accounts  of  Cynethryth's  character  are  conflicting. 
In  a  letter  of  advice  to  Ecgferth,  perliaps  on  the  occasion 
of  his  coronation  in  788,  Alcuin  speaks  of  Cynethryth  in 
words  of  high  though  somewhat  conventional  praise.  Alcuin 
is  not  given  to  flattering  his  friends,  and  were  the  queen's 
character  as  scandalous  as  other  writers  represent,  the 
compliments  he  pays  her  would  savour  too  much  of  irony. 
He  writes  to  her  son  (Jaffe  45.  Dihumler  61)  'Ecce  quam 
nobilissimis  natus  es  parentibus,  quam  magna  enutritus 
cura.  Noli  moribus  esse  degener,  qui  nativitate  generosus 
cxstas.  Disce  diligenter  illorum  exempla:  a  patre  auctori- 
tatem,  a  matre pietatem',  ab  illo  regere  populum  per  justitiam, 
ah  ista  conpati  miseris  per  misericordiam ;  ab  utroque 
christiance  religionis  devotionem,  oratiorimi  instantiam,  elym- 
osinarum  largitatem  et  fotius  litm  sohrietatem.^ 

A  letter  of  Alcuin's  (Jaffe  46,  Dummler  62),  written 
at  an  unknown  date  to  Hundruda,  a  nun  connected  with 
OftVs  court,  shows  that  he  was  personally  acquainted 
with  Cynethryth,  and  intended  to  write  to  her.  He  says, 
'Saluta,  obsecro,  domnam  reginam  ex  me?e  parvitatis 
nomine:    scripsissem   hortatorias   illi    litter  as,   si  illi  inopter 


1)  Cf.  Charlemagne's   later    proposal    of   a  match  between  liis 
son  and  Offa's  daughter. 

2)  In  Vita  OfffP  IT,  Offa   banishes  her  from  his  presence  until 
her  death,  on  account  of  the  murder  of  St  ^'Ethelberht. 


—     72     — 

occupationes  regis  meos  apices  Icgere  licuisset.  Sciat  tarnen 
certissime  me  sibi  quoque^  [sic]  domino,  quantum  valeo, 
fidelem  esse.'  Can  the  meaning  of  the  rather  obscure 
italicised  sentence  be  that  Offa  had  forbidden  his  wife  to 
receive  letters  from  Alcuin?-)  If  so,  they  were  probably 
political  instructions. 

The  Northumbrian  ecclesiastic  and  FrankisU  statesman 
was  thus  on  friendly  terms  with  Cynethryth.  The  Vita 
O/fw  II,  which  was  probably  derived  from  Mercian  sources, 
presents  a  very  different  picture  from  that  which  Alcuin 
draws.  Cynethryth  is  'mente  nimis  inhonesta',  'molesta', 
'procax',  'mulier  avara  et  subdola,  superbiens,  eo  quod  a 
stirpe  Caroli  originem  duxerat';  mention  is  made  of  her 
'inexorabile  odium',  and  her  'verba  jactantire  et  elationis, 
secundum  patria?  sua^  consuetudinem".  Richard  of  Ciren- 
cester must  have  known  some  simihar  tradition,  for  he 
wTites  that  Cynethryth's  daughter  Eadburga  queen  of 
Wessex  was  incited  hy  her  mothe^^^s  example  to  acts  of 
atrocious  cruelty,  of  a  very  similar  character  to  those 
attributed  to  Thrytho  in  Beoivulf.  Richard  here  follows 
Asser  very  closely,  except  that  the  latter  attributes  Ead- 
burga's  crimes  to  her  father's  example;  'more  pateiiio 
tyrannice  invere  incepit\  he  says.  It  is  possible  that  Richard 
of  Cirencester  in  his  'materna  tyrannide  incitata'  has  pre- 
served the  original  language  of  Asser,  and  that  we  should 
read  more  materno  ^).  We  have  already  seen  that  Cynethryth 


1)  Should  this  be  suoque? 

2)  It  would  have  been  ratlior  absurd  to  say  thai  he  would 
have  written  had  not  the  queen  been  too  busy  to  read  his  letter, 
uqIcSvS  indeed  the  remark  is  ironical. 

.  ^)  Asser,  De  JElf.  reb.  gest.  (ed.  Camden,  1003,  p.  3),  'More 
palorno  tyrannice  vivere  incopit,  et  omnem  hominem  exseeraii, 
quem  Beorhtric  diligeret,  et  omnia  odibilia  Deo  et  hominibus 
facere;  et  omnes  quos  posset  ad  regom  accusare,  et  ita  aut  vita 
aut  potestate  per  insidias  privare;  et  si  a  rege  illud  impetrare 
non  posset,  veneno  eos  necabat',  &c.  She  seems  to  have  inherited 
something  of  her  mother's  character.  Her  subsetpient  adventures 
also  remind  us  of  what  is  lohl  of  Cynethryth  and  Thrj'tho.    Having 


—     73     — 

was  traditionally  connected  with  S^  xEthelberlifs  murder. 
It  has  been  thought  that  an  indication  of  her  arrogance 
is  to  be  found  in  the  silver  coins  bearing  her  name,  which 
are  the  only  extant  Anglo-saxon  coins  struck  by  a  woman '). 
Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that,  in  spite  of  Al- 
cuin's  testimony,  Cynethryth  gained  a  reputation  among 
her  husband's  people  for  violence  and  unscrupulous 
ambition,  and  probably  that  the  patriotic  Mercians  hated 
her  for  her  favour  to  their  country's  enemies. 

(c)   The  Thrytho  Saga  in  Beowulf. 

Since  Miillenhoff  published  his  theory  on  the  composition 
of  Beowulf,  most  commentators  have  admitted  that  the 
passage  1931 -—1962,  containing  this  saga,  is  an  inter- 
polation. ]\riillenhoff  attributes  it  to  his  'Interpolator  B'  -). 
H.  Moller  tinds  traces  in  it  of  an  independent  strophic 
song').    Suchier  regards   the  passage  as  an  interpolation 


accidentally  poisoned  her  husband  witli  a  drink  intended  for  one 
of  his  courtiers,  *cum  ilia  inter  Occidentales  Saxones  diutius  fieri 
non  possent,  ultra  mare  navi^ans  cum  innumerabilibus  thesauris 
Karolum  .  .  .  Francoruni  reoom  adiit'.  lie  offered  in  jest  either 
to  marry  lier  to  to  let  her  marry  his  son.  Slie  ullimalely  died 
miserably  at  Pavia.  Richard  of  Cirencester,  following"  Asser,  says 
{Spec.  Hist.  ed.  Mayor,  R.  S.  I,  p.  260)  'Brithricus  .  .  .  habuit  .  .  . 
reginam  nomine  Eadburgam,  Offae  regis  ^lerciorum  filiam,  quae 
multis  suffulta  honoribus,  miris  se  ambitionibus  extollebat.  Nam 
materna  tyrannide  incitata  omnes  de  regno  nobiles  ordinatos  et 
viros  religiosos  ad  regem  accusare  et  execrare  consuevit'  &c. 

1)  liappenberg,  Gesch.  v.  Emjland,  1834,  I,  p.  231.  Palgrave 
suggested  that  these  coins  were  struck  by  her  namesake,  the 
daughter  of  Coenwulf,  who  assumed  the  royal  title  after  murdering 
her  brother  Kenelm  in  821.  'This  however,'  says  Hawkins  {The 
Silver  Coins  of  England,  3rd  ed.  Lend.  1887,  p.  38),  'is  inadmissible, 
for  the  style  of  the  work  and  name  of  the  moneyers  prove  that 
she  was  contemporary  with  Offa.' 

2)  Die  inner e  Geschichte  des  Beovulfs,  in  ZS.  f.  d.  A.  XIV,  1869, 
pj).  216,  243,  reprint od  in  M's  Beovulf,  1889,  pp.  133,  159. 

3)  Das  ae.  Volksepos,  Kiel,  1883,  p.  104.  The  attempt  at  recon- 
struction is  too  violent  to  carry  conviction. 


—     74     — 

of  the  9<li  century,  containing  allusions  to  Cynetliryth  of 
^lercia,  the  memory  of  whom,  he  thinks,  caused  the  old 
Thrytho  saga  to  be  told  here  in  a  modified  form.  Hence 
the  existence  of  two  divergent  forms  of  the  story  in  this 
passage ').  Ten  Brink  finds  two  distinct  interpolations, 
viz.  (a)  1925—1944,  and  (b)  1945—1962.  The  author  of 
(a),  which  is  the  earlier  of  the  two  interpolations,  desired 
to  drag  in,  regardless  of  appropriateness,  a  reference  to 
the  mythical  Thrytho,  in  allusion  to  some  contemporary 
event.  The  lines  (b)  cannot,  in  Ten  Brink's  opinion,  have 
been  written  by  the  author  of  (a),  as  there  is  no  longer 
any  contrast  with  the  good  queen  Hygd^). 

The  passage  1931- — 1962  may  be  thus  translated, 
(a)  'Thrytho  displayed  arrogance,  terrible  violence-^)  —  that 
haughty*)  queen  of  the  people;  no  bold  man  among  the 
dear  comrades,  save  her  lord,  durst  venture  to  gaze  upon 
her  with  his  eyes  by  day^);  but  if  he  did  he  might  count 
on  death-bands  as  his  portion,  wound  by  hand;  then  quickly 
after  his  arrest*^)  was  the  sword  ordained,  that  the  blade 
might  make  judgment  known '),  might  proclaim  the  doom 
of  death.  Such  is  no  queenly  custom  for  a  princess  to 
practise,   though  she  be  peerless,  —  that  a  peace-weaver 


1)  Suchier  in  Faiil  imd  Braune  IV,  p,  510  f. 

2)  Ten  Brink,  Beoivulf-Untersuchtmgen,  in  Q.  u.  F.  LXll  (1888) 
pp.  115—118.  He  thinks  (b)  mainly  composed  of  two  older  parallel 
epic  fragments,  viz.  19472—491  +  19572- OO',  and  19492—57'. 

3)  fireit  ondrysne.  Rieger  (in  Zacher's  ZS,  III,  402)  suggests 
/ireniim  o.,    Sucliier   firen-ondri/sne  qualifying  mod,  'a  savage  heart'. 

■*)  fremu.  an.  eiq.  Bugge  trl.  'bold',  Grein  and  Heyne  'glorious', 
Rieger  'foreign'.  Thorpe  suggests  Froncna,  'queen  of  the  people 
of  the  Franks',  Kluge  frecnii,  'terrible'. 

5)  an  dieges.  Leo  dn-dceges  'the  whole  day',  Suchier  and-xges, 
'eye  to  eye'. 

6)  cefter  mund-gripe.   Rieger,  'after  touch iim  hot-  with  his  hand'. 

^) /fcet  hit  sceadm  mrel  scyran  .,  ste  MS.  So  trl.  Suchier,  fol- 
lowing Bugge,  who  reads  sccaden  mM  scyran  moste,  and  translates 
'that  after  tlie  decision  the  blade  might  make  it  known'.  Sievers 
80:ad('n-m'M,  'inlaid  sword';  Heyne  scea^m-mdd  scyran,  'that  the 
scathing  sword  might  decide'. 


—     75     — 

on  account  of  a  pretended  insult  should  assail  the  life  of 
a  liege-man.  However  Heming's  kinsman  checked  that, 
(b)  At  the  ale-drinking  men  told  a  different  tale,  that  she 
committed  less  crime,  less  malicious  violence,  after  she 
was  given,  gold-adorned,  to  the  young  champion,  the  noble 
and  the  bold;  after,  voyaging  over  the  fallow  flood,  at 
her  father's  bidding  she  had  sought  Offa's  hall;  there 
upon  the  throne  from  that  time  was  she  famed  for  goodness, 
and  enjoyed  well,  while  she  lived,  the  fortunes  of  life; 
and  she  bore  high  love  to  the  lord  of  warriors,  who  was 
of  all  mankind,  as  I  have  heard,  the  best  between  the 
seas,  in  the  wide  world.  For  Off  a  was  a  man  bold  with 
the  spear,  far  renowned  for  gifts  and  warlike  feats;  with 
wisdom  he  ruled  his  nation.  Thence  arose  EonicTr^)  for 
the  help  of  warriors,  Heming's  kinsman.  Garmund's  grand- 
son, mighty  in  war. 

That  the  Offa  here  mentioned  is,  primarily  at  least, 
the  legendary  Anglian  hero  is  clear  from  the  names  of 
his  father  Garmund,  and  his  son  Eoma}r-).  It  is  indeed  an 
open  question  whether  there  is  any  allusion  at  all  to  the 
Mercian  king  in  the  passage.  The  story  is  however  ob- 
viously  identical  (p.  5S)    with   that  in  the  Vita  Off'cc  11^). 

1)  l^oms&r.  So  Bachlechner,  in  Pfeiflor's  Gcrmania  1,298.  MS. 
geomm-. 

2)  Garmund  liowever  does  not  a^ree  phonetically  wIUj  the 
W<(irm\md  of  the  g-enealogies.  Also  the  latter  make  Eomier  the  son 
of  Angelpcow  or  Ongenpcoic^  and  the  grandson  of  Offa.  Nothing-  is 
really  known  of  Ileming.    See  below,  p.  78,  n.  2. 

3)  This  was  first  pointed  out  by  Kemble,  Beoioulf,  1837, 
vol.  \l,  Postscript  to  Preface,  pp.  XXXII— XXXVI,  but  was  not 
thoroughly  established  till  Grundtvig  (7:^eot'?e//',  Copenhagen  18(51)  dis- 
covered the  proper  name  pry'bo  in  Beow.  1931.  Previous  com- 
mentators, regarding  the  word  as  a  common  noun,  had  supposed 
Hygd  to  have  married  Offa,  a  hopeless  anachronism.  Groin's 
suggestion  'Mod-pry^o^  (Ebert's  JB.  1862,  p.  281)  has  not  found 
favour.  The  only  serious  attempt  to  overthrow  Grundtvig's  reading 
is  that  of  K.  Korner  in  Engl  Stud.  1,489-492.  He  has  failed  to 
prove  his  contention,  although  his  comparison  of  BeouK  1931^  mod 
pry^o  ivieg,  with  a  phrase  in  Genesis  22382  hyge/^ry^ie  tvwg  (of  ilagar), 
is  worthy  of  remark. 


—     76     — 

Its  source,  as  is  general!}^  believed,  was  an  ancient  niytb. 
Kemble  *)  and  Grimm-)  identify  tbe  lieroine  with  the  Xorse 
prut))'^  who  in  the  Gn'mnis-mdl  36  is  one  of  the  thirteen 
Valkyries.  The  name  Thrytho  is  generally  regarded  as 
a  derivative  of  0.  E.  pi'Di)  'vehemence,  strength',  which 
agrees  well  with  her  character.  Grimm  however  equates 
the  name  with  the  0.  H.  G.  frut  'beloved'  (traiit).  He 
identifies  the  Valkyrie  with  the  Trut,  Drute  or  Drude  of 
S.German  superstition,  a  witch  or  evil  spirit,  who  com- 
monly takes  the  form  of  the  nightmare.  She  has  much 
in  common  with  the  Valkyries  ^),  Numerous  0.  H.  G.  names, 
such  as  Alpdrud,  Wolchandrdd,  Himildrud  recal  the  super- 
natural character  of  Thruthr.  With  Blidrud^)  may  be 
compared  a  gloss  in  MS.  Cotton.  Vii ell.  A.  15,  'vdlcyiigean 
cdgan,  gorgoneus',  which,  as  Grimm  suggests,  may  indicate 
that  the  glance  of  a  Valkyrie  struck  terror'^).  Thrytho 
causes  the  death  of  those  who  gaze  upon  her.  Particular 
forms  of  Thruthr  are  S^  Gertrude.,  in  whose  legend  the 
Valkyrie  can  be  plainly  recognised®);  and  Hermuthruda'^) 
(Eormenpryb),  in  Saxo  a  queen  of  Scotland,  grandmother 
of  Offa  I.  As  a  virgin  she  is  haughty,  unapproachable 
and  cruel,  and  causes  her  wooers  to  be  slain,  but  from 
the  moment  of  her  marriage  she  becomes  an  obedient  and 
submissive  wife.  Her  story  is  parallel  with  that  of  the 
Valkyrie  Brunhild  in  the  Siegfried  saga.  Both  heroines 
correspond  to  the  ancient  Teutonic  ideal  of  womanhood. 
Now   in   the  Thrytho    episode   in  Beowulf  there   are  two 


1)  Beoiviilf\  1837,  II,  Postscript  to  Preface,  p.  XXXV  f. 

^)  Deutsche  Mythologie,  ed.4, 1875, 1,  p.SdOff.  (3f. notes  in  III,  p.  120. 

3)  E.  11.  Meyer,  Germ.  MythoL,  p.  118  ff.,  I^Iog-k  in  Paul's  Gnmd- 
riss,  ed.  1898,  III,  p.  2G8. 

^)  Grimm,  Gesch.  d.  d.  Sin-ache,  p.  532. 

5)  Grimm,  D.  Mi/thol,  ed.  4.  I,  p.  346.  The  analogous  hvun 
Berchta  strikes  people  blind  [^(Meyer,  Germ.  Myth.,  p.  280).  Emare, 
who  is  a  form  of  Constance,  dazzles  and  terrifies  her  beholders 
Avith  her  magic  si)lendour  (vv.  351,  446,  697). 

«)  Meyer,  Germ.  Myth.,  p.  177;  Grimm,  as  in  n.  4. 

')  Grundtvig,  Hanm.  folkev.,  IV,  52,  followed  by  Ihiciie. 


—     77     — 

conflicting  versions  of  the  heroine's  conduct.  It  is  tlie 
second  version  (b)  that  corresponds  to  the  sagas  of  Her- 
muthruda  and  Brunhikh  The  other  version  (a)  makes 
Thrytho  remain  haughty  and  fierce  after  lier  marriage. 
For  tliese  reasons,  Miillenlioff^),  Ten  Brink-),  and  Suchier"') 
agree  in  regarding  the  version  in  (b)  as  the  ancient  Thrytho 
saga,  and  that  in  (a)  as  a  moditication  of  it  due  to  some 
historical  allusion.  Ten  Brink,  who  rejects  the  C^methryth 
hypothesis  on  chronological  grounds,  suggests  that  there 
may  be  a  reference  to  the  acts  of  Osthryth,  a  Northumbrian 
princess,  who  was  queen  of  ^thelred  of  Mercia,  and  Avas 
murdered  in  697  by  the  Mercian  nobles*).  Such  a  sup- 
position is  no  doubt  possible,  but  there  is  little  evidence 
for  it.  A  far  more  plausible  case  can  be  made  out  for 
Cynethryth,  whom  Mullenhoff,  and  after  him  Suchier,  re- 
garded as  the  person  alluded  to.  The  chronological  objection 
to  this  view  is  not  insuperable.  Ten  Brink  himself  admits 
(Beoivulf,  p.  246),  and  Sarrazin  ^)  agrees  with  him,  that 
the  latest  redaction  of  Beow^ulf  may  have  taken  place  as 
late  as  787,  though  hardly  later.  In  that  year  occurred 
the  first  recorded  Danish  raid  on  the  English  coast '"').  Offa 
had  been  30  years  on  the  throne,  and  had  probably  been 
married  to  Cynethryth  about  20.  Should  it  be  urged  that 
the  language  used  of  Offa  and  Thrytho  suggests  the 
memories  of  a  later  generation  rather  than  an  allusion  to 
a  king  and  queen  actually  reigning,  it  may  be  replied 
that   even   this   is  not  impossible,  for  although  a  general 


1)  ZS.  f.  d.  Alt  XIV,  pp.  21G,  243  =  Miillenlioirs  Beovulf,  1889, 
pp.  133,  159. 

2)  In  Q.  u.  F.,  LXII,  pp.  229,  230. 

^)  In  Paul  und  Braune's  Beitriige,  IV,  p.  507. 

4)  Bifida,  Hist  Ecc.  V,  24;  A.  S.  Chron.  ann.  097.  An  alleged 
charter  of  ^thelred's  (Kemble  33,  Birch  70)  contains  the  words 
"Pro  absolutione  crlminum  vol  meornm  vol  conjngis  quondam 
mea^  Osthrythae."  This  charter  is  spurious  according  to  Plummer, 
Bced.  0pp.  Hist.  II,  p.  154. 

5)  Beowulf- stiidien,  pp.  117,  133. 

6)  A.  S.  Chron.  sub  ann.  787. 


—     78     — 

new-modelling  of  the  poem  after  787  is  highly  improbable, 
there  is  no  reason  why  a  short  passage,  in  no  way  connected 
with  the  Danes,  sliould  not  have  been  inserted  at  a  later  date. 
Viewed  in  the  light  of  Cynethryth's  career,  as  I  have 
endeavoured  to  sketch  it  in  the  previous  section,  the 
Thrytho  episode  in  Beowulf  seems  to  become  intelligible. 
The  author  of  (a)  introduces  abruptly  as  a  familiar  figure 
the  mythical  Tlirytho  to  contrast  with  Hygd,  just  as  in 
another  place  the  same  poet  probably  contrasts  Heremod 
with  Beowulf).  He  does  not  repeat  in  all  its  detail  the 
well-known  Anglian  saga,  and,  instead  of  dwelling  on  the 
submissivenes  of  Thrytho  to  her  husband,  he  emphasises 
her  previous  wildness  and  condemns  it  (1.  1940  f.),  just 
briefly  alluding  (1.  1944)  to  the  taming  of  the  shrew.  The 
oblique  reference  to  Thrytho's  high-spirited  and  unpopular 
namesake  w^ould  be  perceived  at  once  by  the  poet's 
audience-).    Indeed  it  would  seem  not  improbable  that  the 


0  BeoiD.  1.  1709  ff.  So  Ten  Brink,  who  remarks  that  the  poot 
does  not  find  it  necessary  to  explain  who  'Heminges  madg'  (1.  1944)  is. 

-)  Suchier  (P.  u.  B.  IV,  p.  512)  mentions  but  rejects  Iho  idea 
of  another  possible  topical  allusion  by  this  interpolator,  viz.  a 
reference  to  the  contemporary  Danish  king  Hemming-,  who,  accord- 
ing to  Einhard  [Annales,  ami.  811),  made  peace  with  Charlemagne 
in  811,  and  agreed  to  fix  his  frontier  at  the  Elbe.  AltJioiigh  Hemming 
did  not  succeed  his  uncle  Godric  or  Godfrid  till  810,  and  died  in 
812,  two  of  the  older  chronicles  [Chron.  Erici,  apiid  Langebek,  I, 
p.  156,  and  Ann.  Esrom.,  ibid.  p.  227)  state  that  he  reigned  28  years, 
i.  e.  from  784/5.  The  latter  of  these  chronicles  places  his  accession 
in  the  3^ear  of  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons,  i.  e.  785  (a  false  date 
for  the  latter  event  is  given,  viz.  776).  The  probable  explanation 
of  the  difficulty  is  given  by  Cornelius  Hamsfort  in  his  Chronologia 
Secunda,  a  work  compiled  in  the  16*  i  century  from  various  chron- 
icles, some  of  which  are  now  lost.  He  says  {apud  Langebek,  I, 
p.  267)  that  the  above-mentioned  Godric  reigned  jointly  with 
Hemming's  father,  and  that  on  the  latter's  death  Hemming  succeeded 
to  some  of  the  Dani.sh  provinces.  If  there  is  any  truth  in  these 
statements.  Hemming  was  reigning  in  Denmark  in  the  latter  years 
of  OITa,  at  the  time  when  I  suppose  the  passage  (a)  to  have  been 
iiilcrpolaled  in  Beowulf.,  According  to  tlie  Annales  Esrom.,  the 
Danes    assisted    the  Saxons    against  Charlemagne    in  784,  and  tlie 


—     79     — 

application  of  the  old  story  was  already  in  everybody's 
mouth.  Cwen-pryt^,  the  punning  perversion  of  the  Mercian 
queen's  name,  which  occurs,  not  only  as  Quendrida  in 
Vita  Off'ce  II,  but  as  Queiidritha  in  Eoger  of  Wendover 
(ed.  Coxe,  R.  S.  p.  249),  -resembles  a  satirical  nickname. 
Thrytho  might  well  be  a  popular  abbreviation  of  Cynethryth, 
just  as  today  in  Germany  Triidi  is  used  for  Gertrud.  It 
should  be  remembered,  as  Kemble  remarks,  that  to 
Christian  ears  a  ValkjTie  name  would  be  associated  with 
the  powers  of  darkness. 

The  author  of  the  interpolation  (a)  seems,  in  any 
case,  to  have  been  the  spokesman  of  the  discontented 
Mercians.  The  passage  may  well  have  been  written  in 
Cynethryth's  life-time.  Such  bold  criticism  of  the  royal 
consort,  especially  if  she  was  a  foreigner,  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at, .  considering  the  independent  temper  of  the 
old  English  free-men. 

The  second  interpolation  (b)  strikes  a  different  note  ^). 

sister  of  Witikind  had  married  Hemming's  father.  As  Suchier 
notices,  a  brother  of  Hemming,  Angandeo,  bore  the  same  name  as 
the  son  of  Off  a  I,  Ong<  nfheoiv.  The  recurrence  of  the  two  names 
suggests  that  the  brothers  came  of  that  same  ro^'al  house  of  Angehi 
to  which  the  reputed  ancestors  of  Offa  of  Mercia  belonged.  There 
was  anotlier  Hemming  whom  Langebek  (I,  pi).  505,  520)  considers 
a  first  cousin  of  his  namesake  the  Danisli  king.  (The  Frank 
Haming  lived  in  047,  not,  as  Suchier  says,  in  tlie  6th  cent.) 

Possibly  tlien  the  author  of  (a),  an  opponent  of  the  Frankish 
party,  claimed  Charles's  enemy  the  Danish  prince  Hemming  as  a 
distant  kinsman  of  Offa  of  Mercia. 

It  is  tempting,  though  probably  quite  delusive,  to  look  for 
another  topical  allusion  in  the  very  singular  passage  Beoiv.  2911  — 
2922  (esp.  2921,2),  which  according  to  MUUenhoff  is  the  work  of 
the  same  'Interpolator  B.'  The  raids  of  the  Northmen  lasted  from 
787,  when  the  Frankish  king  to  began  'withhold  his  favour',  till  794, 
the  eve  of  the  reconciliation. 

1)  Prof.  Sarrazin  points  out  to  me  that  while  the  style  of  (a) 
is  obscure  and  archaic,  that  of  (b)  is  simple  and  clear,  and  re- 
sembles Cynewulf's  diction.  It  certainly  belongs  to  the  latest 
stratum  of  the  poem.  I  would  suggest  that  the  author  of  (a),  if 
he  was  a  contemporary  of  Offa,  used  fragments  of  an  older  Thrytlio 
poem. 


—     80     — 

It  is  the  voice  of  tlio  courtior,  and  not  of  tlie  angry  patriot. 
The  writer  does  not  altogether  deny  the  charge  of  violence 
(11.  194(),  7),  but  he  condones  it.  Thrytho"s  crimes  belonged 
to  her  youth.  After  her  marriage  she  became  an  admirable 
queen,  devoted  to  her  husband.  Perhaps  this  interpolator 
wished  to  tell  the  old  saga  of  Thrytho  in  its  true  form. 
He  also  probably  wished  to  flatter  Offa  by  an  implied 
comparison  with  his  glorious  ancestor.  Offa  of  Mercia 
was,  as  the  poet  suggests,  famous  both  for  state-craft  and 
for  military  success.  The  poet  seems,  although  no  partisan 
of  Cynethryth,  to  paint  her  conduct  in  milder  colours  for 
the  sake  of  minimising  the  court  scandal.  In  an  age 
when  poetry  was  still  largely  preserved  by  oral  tradition, 
it  was  much  easier  to  soften  down  obnoxious  passages  by 
additions  than  to  expunge  them.  No  doubt  Cynethryth's 
strange  behaviour  was  a  favourite  subject  of  contentious 
gossip  among  the  'politicans  of  the  beer-table'  (I.  1945 
ealo'drincende). 

Earle,  who  regards  the  whole  poem  of  Beowulf  as 
the  work  of  a  single  author,  and  pervaded  by  a  single 
moral  idea,  finds  in  the  passage  1925 — 62  "the  central 
aim  and  purpose  of  the  poet"  {Deeds  ofBeoividf\  p.  LXXXIV). 
"The  link",  he  says  (p.  JjXXVII),  "between  Offa  and  Eomser 
is  skipped,  and  Eom?er  is  made  son  of  Offa,  because 
Eomser  is  here  intended  to  represent  Ecgferth,  the  son 
and  heir  of  the  living  Offa.  The  admonitions  of  the  poem, 
indirectly  and  allegorically  conveyed,  are  intended  for  the 
benefit  of  the  ruling  family,  and  more  particularly  for 
Ecgferth  the  heir  to  the  throne."  Again  (p.  LXXXV), 
Thrytho's  "name  like  thi.it  of  Hygd  is  fictitious  and  alleg- 
orical. It  means  hautem\  contemptuous  haughtiness, 
superhia^  vjtsQr](pavla.  The  name  was  suggested  by  that 
of  Cynethryth,  Offa's  queen.  The  poet's  object  is  to  create 
an  allegorical  parallel  between  the  mythic  Offa  and  the 
reigning  king  of  Mercia.  The  vindictive  character  here 
given  to  Thrytho  is  a  poetic  and  veiled  admonition  ad- 
dressed to   Cynethryth."     It    may   be    objected,    not   only 


—     81     — 

that  Earle's  theory  gives  the  poem  far  too  artificial  and 
elaborate  a  character,  but  also  that  it  is  impossible  on  his 
view  to  account  for  the  existence  of  the  same  story  in  a 
fuller  form,  and  above  all  of  the  same  name  [Drida),  in 
the  Viia  Ojf'oe  11.  where  they  can  hardly  be  derived  from 
the  passage  in  Booumlf. 

Whether  the  Thrytho  saga  was  originally  identical 
with  that  of  Constance  is  a  question  which  hardly  admits 
of  a  definite  ans\Ver.  The  coincidences  between  the  latter 
and  the  fragmentary  episode  in  Beonmlf  2imowni  to  very 
little.  In  both  a  chaste  and  high-si)irited  maiden ')  is  sent 
by  her  father  s  orders  across  the  sea,  and  marries  an 
Anghan  king.  In  one  version  of  the  Constance  saga,  Of  1, 
the  king  is  the  same  as  in  Beowulf.  This  proves  a  con- 
nection, which  however  may  be  exi>lained  as  plausibly  by 
the  theory  of  fusion  as  by  that  of  original  identity.  Suchier 
favours  the  former  view  (P.  n,  B.  IV,  p.  519).  The  version 
in  Ojfa  1  is  essentially  a  type  of  the  Constance  saga,  as 
is  shown  not  only  by  the  heroine's  character*),  but  by 
the  presence  of  tlie  second  part  of  the  story,  including 
the  forgery  and  the  second  exposure.  These  incidents 
are  lacking  in  Beowulf  and  Off  a  IL  the  two  representatives 
of  the  Thrytho  saga. 

The  version  in  Offa  IT  however  resembles  the  Con- 
stance saga  more  definitely  than  the  incomplete  version 
in  Beowulf  does.    The   maiden    drifts   in  an  oarless  boat, 


')  Suchier  ( P.  u.  B.  IV,  p.  518)  compares  the  fierce  Thrytho 
with  the  Manekine,  who  cuts  off  her  ha  id  (as  in  6  other  versions), 
and  with  Custance  in  Tr,  who  pushes  a  wooer  overboard,  and 
drowns  him.  The  latter  incident,  like  many  others,  is  found  in 
Tr  alone. 

■^)  Thryiho  (in  Beowulf  and  Ojfa  IT)  is  wicked,  while  Con- 
stance is  a  pattern  of  persecuted  innocence.  I  do  not  attach  much 
weight  to  this  difference.  Thrytho  was  a  Pagan  ideal  of  virtue, 
distorted  by  religious  bias,  Constance  has  been  harmonised  with 
Christian  ethics. 


—     82     — 

lands  on  the  English  coast,    and  incurs  the  enmity  of  tlie 
king's  mother. 

The  problem  is  complicated  by  the  confusion  between 
the  two  Offas,  of  which,  as  has  been  already  observed, 
there  seem  to  be  traces,  not  only  in  Beowulf  and  the 
Vita  Offoi  II,  but  in  group  ^  of  the  Constance  saga. 
Possible  instances  have  already  been  adduced,  in  the 
Carolingian  origin  of  the  heroine ')  (VM),  her  residence  in 
a  convent  before  her  marriage  (*HC),  and  the  appeal  of 
the  besieged  Pope  to  the  heroine's  relations  (*HC).  The 
old  mythical  Thrytho  saga  was  applied  to  Cynethryth. 
Certain  traditions  (whether  based  on  fact  or  not),  grew 
up  concerning  that  queen,  whicli  as  it  happened  bore  a 
general  resemblance  to  incidents  in  the  Constance  saga. 
If  the  tw^o  sagas  were  originally  distinct,  it  may  easily 
have  happened  that  these  resemblances  brought  about 
their  fusion.  Among  these  parallel  incidents-)  may  be 
mentioned  the  voyage  of  an  imperial  princess  to  England 
(the  Byzantine  Constance  —  the  Frankish  Cynethryth), 
her  marriage  with  an  Anglian  king  (.^]lla  —  Offa  of 
Mercia),  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  with  a  Northumbrian 
king  (^thelfrith  —  ^Ethelred),  the  heroine's  banishment 
and  flight  to  Eome,  her  husband's  pilgrimage  thither, 
and  the  reconciliation  of  the  royal  couple. 


1)  In  Ofl,  her  father  is  a  chief  {regulus)  of  Eboracum.  Haigh 
{A.  S.  Sagas,  p.  59)  suggests,  in  support  of  quite  a  different  view, 
that  this  name  is  due  in  this  place  to  a  confusion  between 
Eburovices  ox  Ebroicce,  i.  e.  Evreux  in  Normandy,  and  Eboracum 
or  Ebraici,  i.  e.  York. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  rioting  that  the  heroine  of  VM  marries 
the  son  of  a  duke.  Offa's  father  was  a  noble  of  the  royal  Mercian 
house. 

2)  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  these  incidents 
were,  in  most  cases,  anything  more  than  popular  traditions,  some 
of  them  fabulous,  ottifers  founded  on  fad. 


—     S3     — 

•  Little  has  been  done  in  the  foregoing  pages  but  to 
follow  up  some  of  the  clues  given  by  Suchier.  The  results 
of  the  en(|uiry  are,  and  perhaps  must  be,  inconclusive. 
Still,  as  affording  a  typical  illustration  of  the  development 
of  a  saga,  they  are  not  without  a  certain  interest.  If, 
as  is  often  averred,  the  tale  is  a  nature  myth,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  folk-lore  experts  will  some  day  solve  the 
problem  of  its  origin  and  significance. 


Appendix. 

La  filla  del  emperador  Contasti. 

Prof.  Suchier  has  begun  to  publish  in  Romania,  under 
the  title  La  fillc  sans  mains ,  the  results  of  his  later 
researches  in  connection  with  the  Constance  saga.  In 
Nov.  1901  (Romania  XXX,  pp.  519 — 538)  appeared  as  the 
first  instalment  the  text  of  the  Catalan  version  La  fiUa 
del  emperador  Contasti.  which  I  have  mentioned  on  p.  6, 
and  designated  Co*).  The  MS.  is  of  the  15tii  cent.  Suchier 
considers  the  version  to  be  derived  from  oral  tradition. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  assign  Co  a  place  in  the  table 
on  p.  13.  The  father  is  a  Roman  emperor  called  Contasti^ 
i.  e.  Constantine^),  and  there  is  no  mutilation'')  (Nos.  42, 
43,  46).  This  definitely  connects  Co  with  the  group  6*, 
and  excludes  it  from  the  mixed  sub-group  i?-*,  in  which 
the  father  is  a  king  in  Eastern  Europe,  and  the  heroine 
mutilates  herself.  In  addition  to  the  original  incidents  1, 
5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  14,  20,  21,  Co  agrees  with  7*  in  32,  35, 
36,  37,  38,  and   with  d*  in  41,  42,  43,  46,  52,  58,  59,  64, 


1)  The  present  number  is  Fotids  espagnol  682,  not  475. 

2)  He  begins  to  reign  in  396  A.  D.,  the  date  of  the  division 
of  the  empire. 

^)  My  stateinent  on  p.  18,  n.  1  is  due  to  a  mistake. 


—     84     — 

78,  74.  Further,  97  and  102  appear  to  connect  it  more 
particularly  with  rj*.  Unless  the  occurrence  of  109  in  Co 
is  a  mere  coincidence,  this  trivial  detail  may  perhaps  he 
transferred  to  i/*.  The  heroine's  age  at  her  mothers  death 
is  twelve,  and  her  son's  age  at  the  time  of  the  recognition 
is  six.     Cf.  106,  104. 

We  may  therefore^  prohably  place  Co  under  /^*.  In 
this  case  it  will  be  most  nearly  related  to  Kmare,  with 
which  version  it  has  more  incidents  in  common  than  any 
other. 

(Jo  contains  fuither  76,  108,  77  (which  really  form  one 
incident),  and  83,  in  common  with  the  other  Catalan  version 
Hu,  from  some  form  of  which  it  has  prohai)ly  l)orrowed 
them.  So  also  Contasti  admires  the  heroine's  hands  (cf. 
Hu,  79). 

Finally,  the  king  of  Spain  goes  hunting,  and  being 
benighted  while  pursuing  a  lost  falcon,  lodges  at  the  house 
where  his  future  wife  lives,  an  incident  which  reminds  one 
of  ^*  (23).  This  may  be  a  borrowing  from  some  folk-tale, 
Avhich  is  particularly  likely  in  a  case  of  oral  tradition. 


1  "SSr. 


^ft/ 


flA 


Buchdruckerci  von  rarl  Salcwski  in  Berlin  C. 


I 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 

University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 


ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2- month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(510)642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals    and    recharges    may    be    made    4    days 

prior  to  due  date 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


FEB  2  2 


FEB  2  21S96 


SENT  ON  ILL 


JAN  0  6  1999 


U.  C.  BERKELEY 


^ 


&-. 


1,000  (4/94) 


GENERAL  LIBRARY -U.C.  BERKELEY 


BDDD7a3EaE 


^^^■'i^: 


*  "ii^ 


> 


€^ 


■-^C- 
^^1^ 


-if:^ 


fi  *. 


% 


'^ 


^ 


■Si.;*© 


r-^l